The Miami Dolphins are five games into the 2026 season, and the results have been as bleak as the numbers.
They’re still winless, and their offense has been one of the league’s worst. A big reason why is the passing game, where Malik Willis has struggled badly out of the gate.
Through five games, he’s completed 56.2% of his throws for 849 yards, with two touchdowns and four interceptions. That adds up to a 68.4 passer rating, the lowest mark among quarterbacks with at least four starts this season.
The raw production is ugly enough on its own, but the historical angle makes it look even harsher. If Willis’ two touchdown passes in five games hold for a full 17-game season, he’d finish with 6.8 passing touchdowns in 2026.
In NFL history, only one quarterback who has started at least 16 games has ended a season with fewer than nine touchdown passes: Trent Dilfer. In 1995, Dilfer posted a 54% completion percentage, 2,774 passing yards, four touchdowns, 18 interceptions and a 60.1 passer rating.
Even with that kind of line, the Buccaneers still managed a 7-9 record.
For Miami, the bigger picture is pretty grim. To get to seven wins, the Dolphins would need a massive turnaround, and the reality looks much closer to a season without a victory.
After the bye week, the pressure shifts squarely onto Willis. If he’s going to keep the starting job into 2027, Miami needs a lot more from him the rest of the way. That said, asking him to carry the offense is no small assignment with the weapons around him.
In Other News...
Malik Willis Keeps Ignoring One Dolphins Fix They Clearly Need
Through five games of the 2026 season, Malik Willis has given the Dolphins enough to work with at quarterback, but his decision-making has also left a clear opening in the offense. One of the easiest ways to clean that up should be right in front of him. Miamis tight ends have been involved in the game plan, and Greg Dulcich and Will Kacmarek have both helped the unit in different ways, yet the passing game has not leaned on that group nearly enough.
That matters because the Dolphins have a position room that can help open things up if Willis and offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik are willing to use it more consistently. Dulcich has flashed as a receiver, while Kacmarek has mostly been asked to do the dirty work, and the balance there suggests Miami has more room to grow on offense than it has shown so far. The question is whether Willis will start trusting the middle of the field more often, or keep leaving one of the teams clearest fixes on the table. [Read more 🡒]
Dolphins Ownership Just Got More Crowded Than Many Fans Realize
Stephen Ross has continued to widen the circle around the Dolphins, recently agreeing to sell a small minority stake in the franchise to Jean Eric Salata, pending approval. It is the latest sign that Miamis ownership structure has become a little more layered over time, with Ross bringing in outside capital while still holding the principal role that has defined the teams modern era.
Salata would join a long list of recognizable investors who already have ties to the Dolphins, a group that has included Ares Management, Lin Bin, Joe Tsai and Oliver Weisberg, Gloria and Emilio Estefan, Serena and Venus Williams, Marc Anthony, and Fergie. For fans, the takeaway is less about boardroom mechanics than the breadth of names attached to the franchise now, and how much more crowded that ownership picture has become. [Read more 🡒]
Malik Willis Pushes Back On What Dolphins Fans Saw Sunday
Before Miamis Week 5 matchup, Bengals safety Jordan Battle pointed to something he thought he saw from Malik Willis, suggesting the quarterback was tapping the ball before he threw it and that the habit helped lead to two interceptions. It was the kind of pregame remark that can stick with a player, especially when it sounds like a clean explanation for a turnover-heavy day.
Willis pushed back on that version of events, saying the interceptions came down to tipped passes and a scramble-drill mistake rather than any tell in his delivery. For Dolphins fans who had already noticed the playmaking swings around those turnovers, the dispute adds another layer to the debate over what really happened and whether the issue was habit, execution, or just a couple of bad breaks. [Read more 🡒]