A six-pack of Dolphins notes on a Wednesday:
▪ This week marked the first time the most prominent members of the Dolphins’ hierarchy explained what they see in Malik Willis. Both general manager Jon-Eric Sullivan and coach Jeff Hafley offered cogent insight:
Sullivan: “Malik is an ascending player. It was important for us to get him on a three-year deal. We want to build around him. It’s not a Band-Aid. He’s got to go play, and he knows this.”
Sullivan wants to see continued growth in Willis “getting fluid with his reads” and “taking care of the football.”
What Sullivan loves is “he’s got an elite arm. He’s a very, very good athlete. Big, strong, powerful body. He can make plays with his legs. It’s a matter of taking care of the ball and getting more fluid playing the position.”
Hafley: “He’s an unbelievable player… really confident and nothing wavers the guy. He’s super athletic; big, too. He’s 225 pounds jacked up and can run, but people aren’t giving him enough credit for how accurate he is, especially down the field. He can throw the football; he can throw it from the pocket, he can throw it really accurate down the field.”
(Willis last season completed all seven of his passes that traveled at least 20 air yards.)
“He just hasn’t played a lot, he’s only 25; some of these guys in the draft are older than him,” Hafley said. “It’s like getting a young quarterback who we know, and we have a great relationship with, we just have to get him experience and have him develop over time.”
Hafley also likes his leadership skills: “He’s humble. He’s got this way about him where he connects with his teammates. It’s the way he treats people. It’s the way he works, which to me is probably more important than anything.
“The type of person that he is, the type of worker that he is, the way he’ll treat the media, the way he’ll treat his teammates and the way he’ll be with his coaches and his teammates — I’m excited for you guys to experience that.”
What does Hafley want to see from Willis?
“I want Malik to come in and be himself. I don’t want him to change on or off the field because he’s an incredible human, and I think he’s got great leadership qualities that guys will rally around. I’ve seen it.”
▪ What would Sullivan’s message be to fans who want to know how long this process could take?
“We are going to do everything in our power to build this the right way,” he said. “I don’t have a crystal ball. I can’t tell you how fast it’s going to happen. Regardless of what the scoreboard says, you will see upward trend in short order. Eventually, you are going to see a lot of Ws next to the Dolphins on Sunday.”
â–Ş Why is Sullivan averse to calling this a rebuild?
“We’re here to win,” he explained. “We’re here to win every time we line up…. Obviously, two years from now, three years from now — we have multiple draft classes under us, and we’ve been able to be a little more active in free agency. [And] you can draw your own conclusions, but we’re here to be competitive day in and day out, and we’re here to win.
“The whole rebuild, retool thing, I don’t believe in that. I think it sends a terrible message to the locker room. Those guys that are in that locker room feel like they’re going to have a chance to win.”
▪ Sullivan’s transparency, and willingness to explain his vision to fans, has been refreshing. This pretty much sums up the approach with free agency:
“We knew we were going to try to go after Malik when we did that. We got that, and after that, we stayed disciplined. We didn’t go make any more big [pickups]. We’ll build through the draft. We’ll target difference-makers in free agency. If we don’t land those difference-makers, we’re not going to check a box to check a box. We’re going to stay disciplined.
“When you can build through the draft, stay young, you have a lot of really good players on rookie contracts and that allows you to be successful over time. You can pay the guys that become difference-makers for you, your core players, and then you can be selective in free agency and who you target.
“Any time you try to build a team in free agency, you’re swimming in dangerous waters. It’s set up to overpay. That is what we are bringing through the door here.”
But, he said, “next year we will have more flexibility in free agency to grow this thing.”
▪ Bush Hamdan, the new quarterback coach, has spent only one of his 16 seasons in the NFL — as the Falcons’ quarterback coach in 2017 before he returned to college at Washington. He was Kentucky’s offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach the past two years before joining Mississippi State, last December, as associate head coach for offense.
He left that job after two months to join Hafley’s staff in Miami.
Hamdan had a “really good interview, really good recommendations,” Hafley said. “[Offensive coordinator] Bobby Slowik came to me with his name, him and Bobby had a lot of conversations. He had been in the NFL with the Falcons, he had coached Matt Ryan when he was younger.
“He had called plays, which was important to me. I loved his demeanor, and I think he was excited to get back into the NFL. So with him and Bobby kind of in that room, I think they’ll be a really good team together.”
In 2023 at Boise State, Hamden was the offensive coordinator and quarterback coach for Arkansas draft prospect Taylen Green, who is taking a predraft 30 visit with Miami.
â–Ş Quick stuff: Sullivan said “Malik Washington is a really good player. He can do a lot of different things. Very good with the ball in his hands.”… The Dolphins and 49ers will play in Mexico City this season, NBC Sports Bay Area reported…
Hafley on quarterback Quinn Ewers: “I like Quinn. Quinn is one of the first guys that reached out to me when I got the job. I thought Quinn did a really good job at the end of the year. Do everything in your power like any other player to show us that you are the best player at your position, and then our job is to play the best player to win games. And that’s exactly what I would say to Quinn.”
This story was originally published April 1, 2026 at 9:30 AM.
Miami Herald
Barry Jackson has written for the Miami Herald since 1986 and has written the Florida Sports Buzz column since 2002.