{"id":884759,"date":"2026-10-16T20:52:11","date_gmt":"2026-10-16T20:52:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/884759\/"},"modified":"2026-10-16T20:52:11","modified_gmt":"2026-10-16T20:52:11","slug":"qb1s-at-risk-cam-ward-kirk-cousins-among-starting-quarterbacks-who-could-be-benched-latest-nfl-news-analysis-updates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/884759\/","title":{"rendered":"QB1s at risk: Cam Ward, Kirk Cousins among starting quarterbacks who could be benched | Latest NFL News, Analysis &#038; Updates"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Dolphins&#8217; losses have been about what we expected this season. Jeff Hafley\u2019s team is battling, scrapping, and isn\u2019t putting out limp-noodle efforts. However, they\u2019re so severely outgunned that their chances of stacking successful outings are minuscule.<\/p>\n<p>Willis hasn\u2019t been good, ranking 24th in EPA per dropback (-0.2) and 21st in success rate with a -1.8% completion rate over expected. However, given the rest of the offense, I think he gets more of a pass than some names on this list. The Dolphins&#8217; best targets are rookies, they still have blocking issues, and the club <a class=\"relative text-plus-650 dark:text-plus-350 underline\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nfl.com\/news\/dolphins-rb-devon-achane-miss-2026-season-acl-tear\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" data-headlessui-state=\"\" target=\"_blank\">lost<\/a> its most explosive player for the season.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m somewhat surprised that the Dolphins haven\u2019t used Willis\u2019 legs more this season (27 attempts, 186 yards, two TDs through five weeks). Entering the season, we figured that was one advantage the QB had over others, but the usage has been intermittent.<\/p>\n<p>More concerning has been the inefficiency as a passer. Willis thrived under Matt LaFleur in Green Bay by boasting an 85.7 completion rate, getting the ball out and letting receivers run, and making plays out of the pocket. We\u2019ve seen precious little of any of that in Miami. His accuracy has waned (56.2%), and he\u2019s missed players on the move.<\/p>\n<p>If you\u2019re into the long-term plan in Miami, things couldn\u2019t be going much better. The Dolphins are trying to compete, the young players are flashing, and the losses are piling up, increasing the draft value.<\/p>\n<p>Given where they\u2019re at, I don\u2019t see the need to sit Willis. He\u2019s not a rookie who needs a breather to recalibrate. At the very least, Willis lets the staff evaluate the rest of the offense with a relatively clean eye. I don\u2019t think the Dolphins need to see what <a rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" class=\"relative text-plus-650 dark:text-plus-350 underline\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nfl.com\/players\/kyle-mccord\" target=\"_blank\" data-headlessui-state=\"\">Kyle McCord<\/a> has before heading into the offseason.<\/p>\n<p>Miami paid Willis knowing he could be a stopgap. Literally nothing we\u2019ve seen this year changes any of the math in South Beach.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Dolphins&#8217; losses have been about what we expected this season. Jeff Hafley\u2019s team is battling, scrapping, and&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":884760,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[63],"tags":[4687,6255,349,99],"class_list":["post-884759","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-analysis","tag-around-the-nfl","tag-nfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/884759","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=884759"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/884759\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/884760"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=884759"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=884759"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=884759"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}