Malik Willis may be the piece that finally gives Malik Washington a real runway in Miami.
The Dolphins didn’t hand their new quarterback a loaded receiver room, at least not for this season. But Willis brings a different kind of juice to the offense, and that could matter a lot for Washington, the slot specialist who has been stuck on the margins for most of his Miami stint.
Willis has better arm strength than Tua Tagovailoa, and that alone should force defenses to respect the full field more than they did before. It opens the door for Washington to get downfield chances he rarely saw while buried behind Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle in the Mike McDaniel era. And at Dolphins training camp, that connection is already starting to show.
New head coach Jeff Hafley recently made a point of praising Washington’s route-running, pushing back on the idea that he’s just a gadget player who can only handle bubble screens or access hitches. That matters because Washington’s development took a hit after Miami picked him in the sixth round of the 2024 draft and immediately placed him behind Hill and Waddle in a passing game that rarely had leftovers to spare.
The result was a narrow role and too few of the kinds of routes that could have shown off more of his game. Add in Tagovailoa’s injuries and his decline since Washington arrived, and it’s been a tough setup for any receiver trying to make the most of limited opportunities.
The raw numbers haven’t helped Washington’s case. Through two seasons, he’s averaging 7.5 yards per catch on 72 receptions, which can make it easy to write him off. But that misses the bigger picture.
Washington has also been efficient as a runner, with 22 carries for 135 yards and a touchdown in the NFL. That kind of production points to a player with more burst than his receiving stats suggest.
Willis can help unlock that. His arm strength stretches coverage, and his ability as a runner gives Miami another layer to work with.
It should also create more space for De’Von Achane, while giving offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik room to get creative with the ground game. Those wrinkles could end up helping Washington too, whether it’s as a receiver or as a ball-carrier.
For a player whose pass-catching production has lagged, the path forward is pretty clear. A quarterback who plays with more confidence and brings more freedom to the offense could be exactly what Malik Washington needs. And at camp, that Malik-to-Malik chemistry is starting to look real.
In Other News...
Bradley Chubb Just Gave Dolphins Fans Another Reason To Be Frustrated
Bradley Chubbs move from Miami to Buffalo adds another layer to a Dolphins offseason already defined by change. After being released by Miami, the veteran pass rusher landed with the Bills, a division rival that has spent the early part of the summer talking like a team built for January. For Dolphins fans, it is the kind of turn that stings a little more because it keeps the focus on a player who once looked like a key piece of Miamis defense.
Bills tight end Dalton Kincaid said Chubb had interest in Buffalo as far back as 2023, and Chubb has since sounded energized about joining a team with clear playoff ambitions. Meanwhile, Miami is moving on from Chubbs contract and trying to reshape its defense, which leaves the Dolphins having to answer an uncomfortable question: did they just watch a former centerpiece head straight to the one place in the AFC East they least wanted to see him land? [Read more 🡒]
Dolphins Camp Battles Are Heating Up For Several Bubble Players
Miami is midway through training camp, and with the preseason about to begin, the pressure is starting to mount for the players on the fringes of the roster. The Dolphins have until Aug. 30 to get down to 53 players, and recent practices have given the coaching staff a better feel for which pieces fit and which ones are starting to fade into the background.
Several position groups are already drawing close scrutiny as the roster picture comes into focus, with individual bubble players being weighed on how they have handled the work of camp so far. There is still time for movement, but the sense around the team is that the biggest evaluations are no longer about raw talent alone - they are about who can make the strongest final push before the decisions start to become real. [Read more 🡒]
Malik Willis Is Showing Dolphins Fans What They Needed To See
Malik Willis arrived in Miami with the kind of questions that follow any quarterback still trying to turn promise into proof, and the Dolphins are asking him to grow into the job fast. He signed a three-year contract to be their starter despite limited NFL experience, has six career starts behind him, and part of his early work has been about learning how to lead as much as how to play the position.
For the Dolphins, the attraction is obvious: there is real hope that Willis can settle in and become more than a short-term answer, but that optimism only lasts if his performance matches the work he is putting in behind the scenes. The next stretch will say plenty about whether the development he is showing now can translate into the kind of steady play Miami needs from its quarterback. [Read more 🡒]