{"id":863321,"date":"2026-04-10T18:04:12","date_gmt":"2026-04-10T18:04:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/863321\/"},"modified":"2026-04-10T18:04:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T18:04:12","slug":"espn-has-the-miami-dolphins-drafting-a-qb-in-the-4th-round-of-the-2026-nfl-draft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/863321\/","title":{"rendered":"ESPN has the Miami Dolphins drafting a QB in the 4th round of the 2026 NFL Draft"},"content":{"rendered":"

When the Miami Dolphins hired general manager Jon-Eric Sullivan to lead the team into the future, one of the first questions he was asked was what he planned to do at the quarterback position.<\/p>\n

Sully would then go on to cut Tua Tagovailoa \u2014 as expected \u2014 and sign his replacement and the potential franchise QB, Malik Willis \u2014 as some expected. (Note: IDK what \u201cfranchise QB\u201d even means anymore after Tannehill and Tua.)<\/p>\n

The dead cap sucks, but it was inevitable, and to land Willis, I\u2019m happy.<\/p>\n

Still, Sullivan promised to add competition at the position, and he did just that. But with three quarterbacks on the roster \u2014 more on QB2, Quinn Ewers another time \u2014 Miami isn\u2019t necessarily forced to draft anyone at the position. (They also have Cam Miller on the roster.)<\/p>\n

But for the sake of this article, I\u2019m going to hold Sullivan to those words.<\/p>\n

What words, you may ask, check it out for yourself:::<\/p>\n

\u201cThe quarterback position again is the most important position in sports in my opinion, certainly the most important position in football. We\u2019re going to invest in that position every year if we can. Now depending on where we are as a football team, it\u2019ll be at different values, but we will draft quarterbacks every year, if not every other year because I think you have to.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now that we\u2019ve got that out of the way, this draft class isn\u2019t necessarily as special as many had once thought. Still, there are some players that I believe have the potential to be the guy in the NFL, and ESPN\u2019s Benjamin Solak \u2014 yes, the former Bleeding Green Alumni \u2014 gave his thoughts on where this year\u2019s class would land<\/a> in a recent article.<\/p>\n

Normally, I\u2019d keep on scrolling, but the QB he had Miami targeting just so happened to be the guy I\u2019ve been programmed to love for the last three or four years living in Central, PA. But before we get into who Sullivan and the Dolphins select, let\u2019s discuss how the top of the draft ended up.<\/p>\n

\"IOWA<\/a><\/p>\n

IOWA CITY, IA – SEPTEMBER 27: Quarterback Fernando Mendoza #15 of the Indiana Hoosiers throws a pass in the first half against of the Iowa Hawkeyes on September 27, 2025 at Kinnick Stadium, in Iowa City, Iowa. (Photo by Matthew Holst\/Getty Images) Getty Images<\/p>\n

With the first-overall pick in the draft, there is no doubt that the Las Vegas Raiders are going to select Fernando Mendoza \u2014 we all know this. After Mendoza, however, is where the real mystery lies. In this article, Solak projects a trade at Pick #31.<\/p>\n

The Arizona Cardinals trade back into the first round with the New England Patriots to select Alabama\u2019s Ty Simpson. That is fine and dandy, but if I\u2019m being honest, I\u2019d much rather Miami trade out and acquire more ammo for next year\u2019s star-studded class. Nevertheless, Simpson is off the board at Pick #31.<\/p>\n

The next quarterback wouldn\u2019t be selected until late in the third round, and it really could go several ways depending on how teams view the next tier of guys. For this article\u2019s sake, LSU\u2019s Garrett Nussmeier is the next QB off the board. He comes off the board in the third round (99th overall) with the Pittsburgh Steelers.<\/p>\n

\"TUSCALOOSA,<\/a><\/p>\n

TUSCALOOSA, ALABAMA – NOVEMBER 08: Garrett Nussmeier #18 of the LSU Tigers looks to pass against the Alabama Crimson Tide during the first quarter at Bryant-Denny Stadium on November 08, 2025 in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox\/Getty Images) Getty Images<\/p>\n

As things stand, there are several intriguing prospects still on the board.<\/p>\n

Miami\u2019s Carson Beck, Arkansas\u2019 Taylen Green, and North Dakota State\u2019s Cole Payton are just a few of the options available at the QB position when Miami is on the board, but Solak decided to go a different direction. And it\u2019s honestly the direction I\u2019ve been hoping the Dolphins would go if the board were to fall this way.<\/p>\n

(Note: I\u2019d be fine with any of these QBs, or with waiting a year and drafting one in 2027.)<\/p>\n

The Miami Dolphins should draft this quarterback in the 2026 NFL Draft<\/p>\n

With the 4th pick in the 2026 NFL Draft, the Miami Dolphins select Penn State QB Drew Allar.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s what Solak said about the 22-year-old QB::::<\/p>\n

\u201c\u201dAllar is a tough nut to crack in this draft class. He has been named the toolsy developmental prospect of favor … but he isn\u2019t even as toolsy as North Dakota State\u2019s Cole Payton<\/a> or Arkansas\u2019 Taylen Green<\/a>, who will likely go later. He has the traditional height, weight and arm talent of a dominant pocket passer, but the deterioration of his play from 2024 to 2025 puts a hiccup in his developmental projection. (Allar was limited to six games after a season-ending ankle injury<\/a> last season.)<\/p>\n

Despite a strong arm, Allar never really pushed the ball downfield in Penn State\u2019s offense. In his three seasons as a starter, his most aggressive season (2024) saw an air yards per attempt of 8.2, below the nation\u2019s average of 8.4. This is particularly worrisome because Allar enjoyed a low pressure rate (21% in 2025, second to only Carson Beck<\/a>) and long time to throw. Yet he still didn\u2019t find opportunities or success throwing downfield.<\/p>\n

Allar can make anticipation throws into tight windows against the sideline or to the middle of the field, and that\u2019s tough to teach. Winning with arm talent on rhythm throws from the pocket is how C.J. Stroud<\/a> excelled for Bobby Slowik with the Texans in 2023 and 2024, and that\u2019s how Allar will find success in the NFL. The Dolphins are invested in Malik Willis<\/a> for 2026 and even into 2027, given his contract guarantees, but using an early-Day 3 pick on Allar would allow him to beat out Quinn Ewers<\/a> for the QB2 job and challenge for QB1 reps in 2027 if Willis struggles.<\/p>\n

The Dolphins have so many draft needs that they might pass on quarterback entirely. But they also have so many picks (three third-rounders) that taking the leap on a falling Allar wouldn\u2019t impact their rebuiand could even accelerate it if he hits.\u201c\u201d<\/p>\n

Now again, I think I\u2019d prefer to go all-in next year, but with the number of draft picks Miami has, I\u2019d have no problem taking a flyer on any of these quarterbacks \u2014 though my allegiance will foolishly remain with Allar. Sure, there are plenty of flaws in his tape, but there\u2019s also some \u201cwow, this kid has something\u201d moments, and for a guy that hasn\u2019t played the position for a long time, he\u2019s exactly the type of flyer I\u2019d take here in the 4th round.<\/p>\n

During his time at Penn State, Allar never quite lived up to the hype. In four seasons, he completed just 63.2% of his passes for 7.402 yardes, 61 touchdowns, and 13 interceptions. He averaged 7.4 yards per throw. On the ground, he carried the ball 224 times for 736 yards and 12 touchdowns. Allar isn\u2019t going to beat you with his legs \u2014 as Malik Willis will \u2014 but he does have some sneaky mobility like that Chargers QB.<\/p>\n

In round 4, I\u2019d be over the moon for Allar. He\u2019s the perfect QB to take a chance on and let compete in a room that would then have Willis, Quinn Ewers, Cam Miller, and Drew Allar. That looks pretty good to me, but then again, I\u2019m a Dolphins fan. And after so many years of smoke and mirrors, someday, somehow, we will have a game-changing QB once again.<\/p>\n

What are your thoughts on the Miami Dolphins drafting Drew Allar in the 4th round of the 2026 NFL Draft? Is there a QB in this class you\u2019d prefer to take a chance on? How do you think Malik Willis will do in year one? Let us know in the comments section below!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When the Miami Dolphins hired general manager Jon-Eric Sullivan to lead the team into the future, one of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":863322,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2049],"tags":[217,7,781,216,251,2734,2087,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-863321","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-general","11":"tag-miami","12":"tag-miami-dolphins","13":"tag-miami-dolphins-draft","14":"tag-miamidolphins","15":"tag-nfl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116381738457069083","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/863321","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=863321"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/863321\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/863322"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=863321"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=863321"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=863321"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}