The latest 2027 mock draft has the Miami Dolphins adding the competition for QB Malik Willis that was promised this winter
If the Miami Dolphins finish the 2026 season with the No. 1 overall pick, you can bet conversations like this one will be hard to ignore.
The 2026 Miami Dolphins season is looking like a gauntlet. The Dolphins will be playing while carrying the salary cap weight of their last build. It comes with nearly $180 million dollars in dead cap.
That, plus a young roster and a tough schedule on paper have not inspired lofty projections for Miami. And if the season ends up coming and going with a whimper? You can be rest assured that the Miami Dolphins are going to have a lot of conversations about what to do with their first draft pick next spring. The latest 2027 NFL mock draft, courtesy of Sports Illustrated, has the Dolphins landing the newest member of the league’s royal family. Quarterback Arch Manning.
SI has the Miami Dolphins landing Arch Manning with the No. 1 overall pick in latest 2027 NFL mock draft
“The Miami Dolphins are in full-blown rebuild mode. They signed Malik Willis this offseason as a temporary solution, but his presence wouldn’t prevent them from drafting a quarterback if they get the top pick. Arch Manning finished his 2025 season in rather strong fashion. Manning started to look like a quarterback capable of going No. 1 overall after a slow start to his debut campaign as a starter.“
— Justin Melo, Sports Illustrated
I’ll say this about the conversation. The Dolphins certainly didn’t sign Malik Willis to be a short-term solution. They believe he’s capable of performing at a level that would warrant being the long-term answer. But if Miami finishes this season with the No. 1 overall draft pick, it’s going to be hard to compartmentalize the performance of Willis and the team as a whole.
Manning has plenty of enticing tools but at this stage, the most enticing part of his resume is the name. He’s still rough around the edges, as you may expect for a one-year starter. The question for him this season will be how much polish he adds to his game after an offseason of being the unquestioned starter at Texas.
There will be other contenders for this mantle, including Notre Dame’s CJ Carr and Oregon’s Dante Moore. I would suspect that the conversation for 2027’s QB1 is far from over. But if losses start stacking up in bunches and Willis does not perform as this regime believes he’s able to, the Miami Dolphins will certainly be a part of the conversation. And they should be.
Because while the Dolphins signed Willis with a belief he can be the answer, he shouldn’t be given any benefits of the doubt. And, what’s more, Miami’s financial commitment to Willis runs through 2027. There are no guarantees in the third and final year of the contract he signed this spring. So keep an eye on this one, Dolphins fans. A poor season will have Miami in the conversation. And at that point, the question would become ‘who’, not ‘if’.
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