MIAMI GARDENS — Miami Dolphins quarterback Quinn Ewers finished out his rookie season with a shot of returning this year as a full-time starter.
Starting the final three games of 2025 after Tua Tagovailoa was benched, it seemed all but inevitable the team would part ways with its one-time franchise signal-caller, opening the door for Ewers.
Combine that with a coming season that was largely viewed on the outside as a rebuilding year, it appeared opportunity could be there for Ewers.
But new general manager Jon-Eric Sullivan, as he did indeed release Tagovailoa, isn’t approaching his first year in Miami as a rebuild, and with the limited resources he had in free agency, he invested in the backup he previously had with the Green Bay Packers, Malik Willis.
Competition can be at the forefront of the new Dolphins regime, but when Willis comes in on a three-year, $67.5 million deal and Ewers is barely earning above a million each season, that role would tend to go one way.
Ewers acknowledges he wishes to be the starting quarterback for his team, but he can still balance that desire with embracing support of the new starter brought in as his backup.
“In the quarterback room, the respective goal is to be playing on Sundays, but I think that’s the cool part about our room,” Ewers said Monday afternoon after the Dolphins’ fifth practice of training camp.
“We all want to be playing, but at the end of the day, I think we all want what’s best for the Dolphins. So, we’re all competing for the same spot, but we’re all competing for the same goal. Whoever’s out there, no matter who it is, anybody’s going to get the support.”
Ewers went 55 of 83 for 622 yards, three touchdowns and three interceptions in his three starts plus relief duty in one other appearance in 2025 as a seventh-round pick out of Texas.
The move for Willis, though, meant, barring injury or some other unforeseen circumstance, he at least wouldn’t start out the next season as QB1. But that wasn’t how he viewed it when news broke in March that Willis was signing with the Dolphins under Sullivan and coach Jeff Hafley.
“I was excited to get to work with him, honestly,” Ewers said. “I think he had a great end of the year last year with Green Bay, and to get a guy like that who has played good in some big-time games is only going to help me in the long run.”
Willis was up and down during offseason organized team activities and minicamp, while Ewers was more steady. Ewers’ first few training camp practices saw him throw multiple interceptions while missing on some opportunities to complete passes, but he rebounded Sunday as all offensive units on the depth chart were connecting on deep passes.
“Training camp started a little iffy, but think I had a great day (Sunday) and trying to continue to build on that,” he said.
As he strives to find consistency in his second season, Ewers is feeling more comfortable than he was at the same point last year as a rookie.
“The wheels aren’t spinning as fast as they were when I first got here around this time,” he said. “I get to really slow things and start focusing on some of the smaller, more minute details of the offense and I get to focus on what the defense is doing because I’m not so worried about where’s everything at.”
Dolphins backup QB Quinn Ewers speaks after the team’s training camp practice Monday in Miami Gardens. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)
It helps that, despite the head coaching transition from Mike McDaniel to Hafley, the offense is still largely the same under new offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik, who was senior passing game coordinator in Miami last season.
“It’s pretty similar, but each coach has their own unique twist to their offenses, which has been fun to kind of learn some things that we did last year and how he likes to do it,” Ewers said.
It was good news for him to learn that Slowik was taking over the offense after learning under him in 2025.
“One-hundred percent,” Ewers said. “I think that last year we built a good relationship, so for him to be hired as the offensive coordinator and come back to Miami, it definitely wasn’t a bad thing for me. It was definitely good.”
Ewers is behind Willis on the Dolphins’ depth chart, but all he can do is continue working on his craft with the practice reps he gets, and if his next opportunity arises, he can be prepared.