QB Malik Willis
(2025 QB Rank: No. 45, 14.4 FPts/G)
Miami signed Malik Willis this offseason and now, somewhat surprisingly,
he takes over as the unquestioned starter in Miami with his only
competition being Quinn
Ewers.
While it's nice to not have much to worry about behind him on
the depth chart, fantasy managers who take a late-round chance
on Willis are purely buying his rushing floor in what is expected
to be one of the league's worst offenses. He did flash his ceiling
in Green Bay this past season when he lit up the Ravens in Week
17, piling up 288 passing yards alongside 60 rushing yards and
two scores on the ground. He also scrambled for 44 yards against
Chicago in roughly half a game the week before. While he had the
one game of reasonably impressive passing numbers, the truth is
that Willis is going to have to run the ball a lot in order to
be interesting for fantasy.
This Miami offense creates a brutal environment for fantasy production.
With Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle gone, opposing defenses can
stack the box without fearing Malik Washington or Jalen Tolbert
on the perimeter. When an offense struggles to move the chains
and rarely reaches the red zone, fantasy production completely
tanks.
The truth is that Willis will need historic levels of rushing
efficiency just to push for high-end QB2 relevance. Unless he
averages 50 rushing yards a game and starts vulturing touchdowns
near the goal line from De'Von Achane, the lack of passing scores
will destroy his weekly floor. Treat him as a late round Superflex
dart throw with a fragile floor that could fall out at any time.
The decision of whether or not to spend first round draft capital
on De'Von Achane comes down to weighing elite volume against significant
red flags.
With Miami gutting its wide receiver depth chart, Achane enters
2026 as perhaps the most accomplished pass catcher on the entire
roster. Securing 90 to 100 receptions is entirely realistic for
him this season simply because new quarterback Malik Willis lacks
reliable targets downfield. That PPR floor keeps Achane firmly
in the RB1 conversation regardless of matchup scripts, which will
almost certainly look brutal on paper most weeks.
The concerns in this offense are impossible to ignore. Miami
projects to trot out a bottom tier offensive line and mobile quarterbacks
like Willis historically avoid running back checkdowns while also
stealing goal line carries. When defenses stack eight defenders
in the box, Achane's efficiency per touch will take a noticeable
hit, even with his historically elite explosiveness.
Combine those roster and system concerns with a troubling injury
history that has cost him games in each of his first two seasons,
and Achane's weekly range of outcomes becomes extremely wide.
He has week-winning upside on raw volume alone, but his floor
is far lower than typical early round picks. Treat him as a high
variance RB1 who you'll want to spend another late-round pick
handcuffing in case of emergency.
Jaylen Wright enters his third season with an underwhelming stat
sheet, averaging under 4.0 yards per carry on just 138 total rushing
attempts across his first two years. While that lack of efficiency
is concerning, a clear path to volume can supersede those worries
in an instant.
Looking at the depth chart behind an injury-prone starter De'Von
Achane, Wright is locked in a training camp battle with Ollie
Gordon II for the primary backup role. While Gordon offers a 225-pound
goal line frame, Wright possesses the raw speed needed to execute
the Miami outside zone scheme without forcing major adjustments.
Should Achane miss time again, Wright is built to be a much more
plug-and-play type of replacement both in the run concepts and
screen plays that are expected to drive this offense.
Wright is completely unusable as a standalone option while Achane
is healthy, but his contingent ceiling makes him a serious late
round target. Prioritize drafting him as a high value insurance
policy if you invested your first-round pick on Achane, or simply
target him as a bench stash in deep leagues if you're looking
for late-season upside.
Gordon is the wild card in the Miami backfield. His rookie campaign
was a statistical nightmare. The positive was that he stayed healthy
the entire year, which is something these other Miami backs have
struggled to do, but he barely saw the field, logging 10 touches
in a single game just once while averaging an ugly 2.8 yards per
carry.
Unlike Achane and even Wright, Gordon lacks the breakaway speed
and burst that this offensive scheme necessitates. What's interesting
about him, is that his physical stature is different than the
other backs. At 225 pounds, he brings a bruising element that
neither Achane nor Jaylen Wright possess. The Dolphins are going
to struggle in the red zone this year, so when they actually do
get close to the end zone, Gordon has the physical profile to
plunge the ball in. That's not to say that he's going to come
in to relieve Achane, but it does likely mean that he'd have at
least some sort of role in the offense even if Achane goes down
and Wright becomes the new “starter.”
Unfortunately, trying to predict when Gordon might snipe a touchdown
will be a nightmare for fantasy managers and he lacks the receiving
floor to provide reliable weekly value. Leave him on the waiver
wire in standard leagues. He only holds deep stash value for zero-RB
rosters praying for a goal line score after an Achane injury.
“Someone's going to catch passes in Miami” will be a common phrase
that we'll hear around the fantasy community from now through
draft season. It's true that the Dolphins are going to have to
pass at some point, but it's equally true that this looks like
an extremely frustrating, spread-out fantasy situation that won't
bode well for any one pass-catcher (well, other than De'Von Achane).
Stepping into the WR1 spot in Miami does look good on paper for
Malik Washington. However, we have to contend with the fact that
despite appearing in all 17 games last season, he finished as
the WR58 while operating mostly as a tertiary option in an offense
that was bad, but was still performing better than most expect
them to this season.
The offseason departures of Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle create
a huge void in target distribution, but players who haven't proven
themselves don't just automatically inherit target volume by default.
Washington is expected to line up as the primary option, yet his
production ceiling remains heavily restricted by the surrounding
environment. Catching passes from Malik Willis in an offense that
projects near the bottom of the league inherently limits his efficiency
and touchdown upside.
Opposing defenses will stack the box and bracket underneath routes,
forcing Washington to work in more congested areas with low average
depth of target. The potential of pure volume makes him a potentially
usable PPR spot-starter during heavy bye weeks, but expecting
anything beyond a WR4 is unrealistic unless this offense significantly
out-performs its expectations.
Jalen Tolbert takes his talents to South Beach following a quiet
2025 campaign in Dallas where he logged just 18 receptions for
203 yards across 11 games. After being pushed down and then off
the Cowboys depth chart by George Pickens, the fifth-year receiver
steps into a Dolphins roster completely lacking established perimeter
starters. Outside of dumping passes to running backs or targeting
Malik Washington underneath, the offense needs an outside threat
who can win down the field.
Tolbert has the physical profile to play on the perimeter, but
converting that into consistent fantasy production remains a real
question. His career tape shows a receiver who struggles to earn
targets against quality coverage, and operating in a low-efficiency
passing attack led by an inaccurate quarterback in Malik Willis
offers limited margin for error.
While target availability alone makes him worth monitoring, starting
or even drafting him in redraft leagues is too much risk. If his
snap counts and route participation numbers look interesting during
the first month of the season then we can start to take a closer
look, and if he begins to prove that he has the potential to approach
a double-digit target share then we may have something here. But
it looks more than likely that this will be another mediocre year
for this once-promising receiver.
Tutu Atwell brings a pure vertical threat to the Miami offense,
but his fantasy value remains limited by his play style, usage,
and physical stature.
In eight appearances with the Rams this past season, he recorded
just six catches. He did, however, convert those six receptions
for a whopping 192 yards and a touchdown, highlighting his rare
downfield splash play ability. Averaging over 12 yards per reception
throughout his four-year career, his ability to take the top off
a defense is well established. His small frame, however, prevents
him from absorbing the heavy contact required to command high
volume underneath.
Having never topped 42 receptions in a single season, expecting
him to suddenly transform into a target-earner is unrealistic.
In standard redraft formats, his low floor makes him virtually
unstartable on a weekly basis, as one or two targeted deep shots
per game leaves us with far too many zero-point outings. Atwell's
entire fantasy appeal comes in deep best ball formats where managers
can take advantage of sporadic big plays without needing to predict
when they occur. Outside of those specific draft structures, leave
him on the waiver wire and let someone else chase the unpredictability.
TE Greg Dulcich
(2025 TE Rank – No. 42, 7.2 FPts/G)
Things don't get much better as we continue to look down this
pathetic depth chart at Greg Dulcich. Dulcich faces a difficult
path to fantasy relevance entering his fifth NFL season. After
sharing snaps with veteran Darren Waller in 2025 and recurring
hamstring and foot injuries prevented him from staying on the
field consistently in his first few seasons, Dulcich has now put
together the profile of a middling replacement-level tight end
who brings little fantasy appeal.
To make matters worse, the Dolphins drafted Ohio State tight
end Will Kacmarek in the third round, adding a strong inline blocker
to the roster, who could end up seeing the field more often than
some would like to believe. Kacmarek's profile doesn't project
him to be much of a pass-catcher, which theoretically leaves the
receiving reps open for Dulcich. However, translating those potential
routes into reliable fantasy production in this offense is going
to be a challenge for a player who's never done so even in better
offenses.
Playing in an offense projected to be one of the league's worst
severely caps the touchdown potential for tight ends. Combine
that with a history of missed time, and Dulcich lacks both the
safety floor and the touchdown ceiling required to warrant a draft
pick. Leave him on the waiver wire in standard leagues until he
proves he can remain healthy and command consistent targets in
the Miami offense.
