Miami Dolphins Preseason Instant Reaction: Malik Willis & Caleb Douglas connection sparks, defensive depth issues, and more
The Miami Dolphins’ first taste of the 2026 preseason started hot — but fizzled quickly against the Washington Commanders.
The Miami Dolphins‘ preseason debut under Jeff Hafley is in the books. Miami, upon receiving the opening kickoff, jumped out to a 7-0 start thanks to a 14-play, 93 yard touchdown drive.
From there, the highlights were much more sparse. In the end, the Dolphins succumbed to the Commanders by a final score of 20-7. They were plagued by a problematic passing game once the starting unit hit the sideline and failed to get much of anything rolling offensively in the final three quarters. The night, despite the slowed production with the ball, was still quite informative. Here are the four biggest takeaways for the Miami Dolphins’ 2026 preseason debut against the Washington Commanders.
The first team offense looked sharp in all phases (against a number of second-team Commanders)
The Dolphins ran the ball well behind the first-team offensive line. De’Von Achane was effective and ripped several chunk runs up the middle. He also put the exclamation point on Miami’s long opening possession, punching in a 1-yard touchdown in the low red zone behind a pile of blockers that included Patrick Paul, Will Kacmarek, and Kadyn Proctor.
Malik Willis’ Dolphins debut ended 4 of 5 for 43 yards — and the lone completion was an explosive play to rookie wide receiver Caleb Douglas that saw Douglas’ second foot unnecessarily step out of bounds. Douglas more than made up for the miscue on a 3rd & 5 reception up the numbers for a 28-yard one-handed reception. Willis threw it accurately and got outside the pocket with ease, too.
The defensive depth is a cause for concern in several spots
The cornerback depth chart isn’t necessarily a cause for inspiration right now — although Ethan Bonner made several plays throughout the course of this game. But the Commanders had six pass catcher log a completion of 15+ yards on the night. And that was in part because the pass rush was fairly non-existent.
We barely saw Chop Robinson and Josh Uche, we didn’t see Zach Sieler at all, and the team quickly turned to Alex Huntley, Keith Cooper, David Ojabo, and Max Llewellyn (among others) as primary snap takers up front. None of those players looked ready to be contributors for this team — but they got run early because the Dolphins simply don’t have a ton of depth.
The young guns played often!
Among the rookie players who got some extra snaps versus their peers? Kadyn Proctor got some extra work (an extra drive) than the starting tackles and Aaron Brewer. Chris Johnson got some extra work. Jacob Rodriguez was given some significant playing time — but not nearly as much as LB Trey Moore, who was playing stack linebacker into the fourth quarter.
Second year guard Jonah Savaiinaea joined Proctor for a second drive offensively and looked good in the process, too.
The Quinn Ewers experience is spiraling
The three starts Ewers posted for the Miami Dolphins to close the 2025 regular season feel like a distant memory. Ewers certainly didn’t get much help from the rest of the second-string offense. That included a drop by Tajh Washington and some less than desirable pass protection. But Ewers looked like the speed of the game was in fast forward. He had several ugly misses down the field, including a near interception up the right hash, and a pass that was intercepted on a possible miscommunication with a receiver. Ewers lofted a pass to safety Quan Martin without a single Dolphins receiver in the vicinity.
Ewers’ night finished 1 for 8 passing for 27 yards and an interception. That’s good for a passer rating of 1.6…and the completion was a frantic, outside of structure check down to Jalen Tolbert.
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