get that message during their coaching search<\/a>. Perhaps it\u2019ll carry through.<\/p>\nConsider what we\u2019ve seen in the past two Super Bowls. On Sunday, Seattle quarterback Sam Darnold was under center as the Seahawks won the crown this year.<\/p>\n
Philadelphia quarterback Jalen Hurts was the quarterback last year when the Eagles dismantled Kansas City, 40-22, in the Super Bowl.<\/p>\n
But defense, not strong quarterback play, has won the past two Super Bowls.<\/p>\n
And defense has played a bigger role for the league\u2019s top teams in each of the past two seasons.<\/p>\n
Are we seeing the start of a trend?<\/p>\n
Perhaps.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s what we know from the last two seasons \u2014 you don\u2019t need a Hall of Fame-level, Tom Brady- or Patrick Mahomes-type quarterback to win a Super Bowl.<\/p>\n
In fact, some of the league\u2019s best quarterbacks (Mahomes, Baltimore\u2019s Lamar Jackson, Cincinnati\u2019s Joe Burrow) missed the playoffs in 2025.<\/p>\n
The NFL remains a quarterback-first league, make no mistake.<\/p>\n
Life is much easier when you have an elite quarterback.<\/p>\n
What we\u2019re seeing now, however, is that teams can have big one-year or two-year turnaround with a less-than-elite quarterback just as teams such as Seattle and Philadelphia can win a Super Bowl with a less-than-elite quarterback.\u00a0<\/p>\n
You want some names of the non-elite quarterbacks scheduled to hit free agency on March 11 (all won\u2019t hit free agency)? Green Bay\u2019s Malik Willis. Indianapolis\u2019 Daniel Jones. Russell Wilson of the New York Giants. Pittsburgh\u2019s Aaron Rodgers. Washington\u2019s Marcus Mariota. Jimmy Garoppolo of the Los Angeles Rams. Trey Lance of the Los Angeles Chargers. Baltimore\u2019s Tyler \u201cSnoop\u201d Huntley. Buffalo\u2019s Mitchell Trubisky. Miami\u2019s Zach Wilson. Las Vegas\u2019 Kenny Pickett.\u00a0<\/p>\n
You want some names of non-elite quarterbacks the Dolphins could draft in the first three rounds (this could change after the NFL scouting combine and pro days)? Alabama\u2019s Ty Simpson. LSU\u2019s Garrett Nussmeier. Miami\u2019s Carson Beck. Penn State\u2019s Drew Allar.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not a pretty picture.<\/p>\n
But it\u2019s not a hopeless picture.<\/p>\n
Quarterback play was suspect throughout the playoffs.<\/p>\n
Darnold was good, not great. He ended with five touchdowns, no interceptions and a 102.4 passer rating despite completing just 61.5% of his passes (56 of 91).<\/p>\n
How was New England\u2019s Drake Maye, the MVP runnerup, in these playoffs? He finished with six touchdowns, four interceptions, seven fumbles and an 82.2 passer rating.<\/p>\n
Matthew Stafford of the Los Angeles Rams, the league MVP? He finished the playoffs with six touchdowns, one interception and a 94.4 passer rating while completing just 55.5% of his passes, a number that wouldn\u2019t have ranked him in the top 50 for the regular season.<\/p>\n
Want more? Buffalo\u2019s Josh Allen had four touchdowns, two interceptions and a 99.8 passer rating to go along with three fumbles. He had four turnovers (two interceptions, two lost fumbles) in Buffalo\u2019s 33-30 overtime loss to Denver.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Denver\u2019s Bo Nix had three touchdowns, one interception and an 87.1 passer rating while completing 56.5% of his passes in the playoffs.<\/p>\n
Much to the dismay of NFL marketing, you can make the playoffs, advance in the playoffs and win a Super Bowl even if you don\u2019t have a Hall of fame-caliber quarterback.<\/p>\n
Sullivan and Hafley can start their rebuild<\/a> from any position they\u2019d like. The key is not forcing themselves to fall in love with a quarterback they merely like instead of a quarterback they love.<\/p>\nIf Sullivan and Hafley have conviction about a quarterback, perhaps Willis, then OK, make a move.<\/p>\n
They shouldn\u2019t, however, make a two- or three-year commitment to someone just because they think they must find a long-term answer at quarterback this year.<\/p>\n
Again, the recent trend shows you don\u2019t need an elite-level quarterback to win a Super Bowl or make a big turnaround.<\/p>\n
This is the Dolphins-specific takeaway from this year\u2019s Super Bowl and the last two seasons. We\u2019ll see if they\u2019ve received the message.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MIAMI GARDENS \u2014 The Super Bowl had good news for the Dolphins \u2014 this was the second consecutive…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":740800,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2049],"tags":[217,7,929,216,251,2087,6,9],"class_list":{"0":"post-740799","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-miami-dolphins","8":"tag-dolphins","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-latest-headlines","11":"tag-miami","12":"tag-miami-dolphins","13":"tag-miamidolphins","14":"tag-nfl","15":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116041978604663535","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/740799","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=740799"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/740799\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/740800"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=740799"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=740799"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=740799"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}