Dolphins Fall 20-7 to Commanders in Preseason Opener as Malik Willis Runs the First-Team Offense

The Miami Dolphins opened their 2026 preseason with a 20-7 loss to the Washington Commanders on Friday night, a result that told less about the roster than the drive that produced Miami's only touchdown did.

Quarterback Malik Willis led a 14-play, 93-yard scoring march in his first extended look running the Dolphins offense, the kind of sustained, methodical possession that a new coaching staff installing a new system wants to see in August. Miami did not find much else on offense, and Washington controlled the rest of the evening on the way to a 13-point win.

Preseason scores carry limited predictive weight, and both teams held out significant portions of their rosters. What the game did offer was the first public evidence of what Miami is building under head coach Jeff Hafley, whose arrival closed out the Mike McDaniel era and started a rebuild of the team's offensive identity.

The drive that mattered

A 14-play, 93-yard touchdown drive is a specific kind of accomplishment. It requires converting multiple third downs, it requires the offensive line to hold up over an extended series, and it requires a quarterback to work through progressions rather than hunting for a single explosive play.

For Willis, it was the sort of series that answers the questions a quarterback faces when he takes over a starting job. His career to this point has been defined by athleticism and by limited opportunity, and a 93-yard march that stays on schedule is the opposite of the improvisational profile that has followed him.

The drive also validated the offensive concept Hafley's staff has described through camp. Miami is transitioning away from the speed-based, motion-heavy attack that defined the previous regime toward a more power-oriented approach that leans on the running game to create space in the secondary for the passing game. A long, physical touchdown drive is what that offense is supposed to look like when it works.

Everything after that possession was less encouraging. Miami's other drives did not produce points, and the offense did not sustain the rhythm it found on the scoring series. In a preseason opener with rotating personnel, that is not unusual, but it does mean the evening produced one data point rather than a body of evidence.

The Hafley transition

Miami's 2026 offseason has been a transformation rather than an adjustment. Hafley took over a program that had built its identity around speed, pre-snap motion and manufactured mismatches, an approach that produced regular-season success but did not translate into January results.

The stated direction is a more power-based team that uses the running attack as its foundation. That is a philosophical shift with roster implications, because the personnel that fits a motion-heavy spread offense is not identical to the personnel that fits a downhill running game, and the transition typically takes more than one offseason to complete.

Running back De'Von Achane is central to whichever version of the offense Miami runs. Achane did not participate in team drills during organized team activities or minicamp while recovering from offseason shoulder surgery, and the team indicated he would be available when practices began in camp. His health is the single largest variable in Miami's offensive projection.

Offensive tackle Austin Jackson is another player whose availability shapes the plan. A toe injury limited him to six games last season, and after Miami's first camp practice this year he said he feels better than his normal self. A power running scheme depends on tackle play, and Miami's line has been a recurring problem area.

What Washington showed

The Commanders won 20-7 but did not leave the evening without cost. Quarterback Marcus Mariota was injured during the game, an outcome that reinforces the recurring argument about whether preseason games are worth the risk they impose on veteran players.

Washington's win moves them to 1-0 in a preseason that, like Miami's, functions primarily as an evaluation window for roster spots at the back end. Both teams will trim to the regular-season limit over the coming weeks, and the players competing for those final spots are the ones for whom these games genuinely matter.

Where this fits in Miami's August

The Dolphins return home for their next two preseason games, hosting the New York Giants and then the Atlanta Falcons at Hard Rock Stadium. Miami is holding joint practices with the Giants, a format that has become more valuable to coaching staffs than the games themselves because it allows controlled work against unfamiliar opponents without the injury exposure of live game situations.

Veterans reported to camp earlier this summer, joining rookies who had reported the week before, and the team has worked primarily at the Baptist Health Training Complex adjacent to Hard Rock Stadium with one practice held inside the stadium itself. Public practice sessions have drawn fans through the camp period.

The evaluation calendar compresses quickly from here. Roster decisions, the establishment of a starting offensive line and the settling of the quarterback situation all have to resolve before the regular season opens, and preseason games two and three carry more weight than the opener because starters typically see extended work.

The broader Florida NFL picture

Miami's loss came on the same night the Tampa Bay Buccaneers won their preseason opener 24-16 at the New York Jets, giving Florida's NFL teams a split on the first weekend of exhibition play. The Jacksonville Jaguars open their preseason Saturday at the New Orleans Saints after completing joint practices in New Orleans.

All three Florida franchises enter 2026 with meaningful questions. Miami is in year one of a coaching transition. Tampa Bay is managing the tail end of a competitive window. Jacksonville is trying to convert recent high draft investment into consistent results.

For Florida football fans, the practical calendar item is that the regular season begins in early September, and preseason performance historically correlates poorly with regular-season outcomes. What August establishes is roster composition and injury status, both of which do matter.

What a coaching change actually requires

NFL coaching transitions involve more than a new play sheet. A staff change replaces the terminology players have internalized, the practice structure they have adapted to, the film review process, the strength and conditioning program and the standards by which playing time is allocated.

Offensive terminology is the most immediate friction point. A veteran who has run the same concept under three different names across three organizations has to rebuild automatic responses, and August is when that rebuilding either takes or does not. Penalties, procedural errors and blown assignments in preseason games are the visible symptom.

Defensively, scheme transitions carry their own version of the problem. Coverage rules, front alignments and communication protocols all change, and secondary play in particular depends on shared understanding that takes repetition to establish.

The general expectation across the league is that first-year staffs show their identity in September and their competence by November. Preseason results have almost no predictive relationship to either, which is why coaching staffs are candid that August exists for evaluation rather than for winning.

Miami's roster questions

The Dolphins enter the season with more open questions than a team coming off a stable period would carry. The quarterback position, the offensive line, the shape of the running back rotation and the defensive front all involve competitions that August is meant to resolve.

Achane's return from offseason shoulder surgery is the variable with the largest range of outcomes. A healthy Achane operating in an offense built around the run game is a different proposition than one managing a workload, and the difference between those scenarios is worth multiple wins over a season.

Offensive line continuity has been Miami's recurring problem. Jackson's return to health helps, and the unit's ability to hold up in a scheme that asks it to move defenders rather than to reach and cut off in a zone-heavy attack is the technical question the staff is evaluating.

Depth at receiver and tight end determines how much of the passing game the staff can install. Power running schemes still need the play-action passing that they set up, and that requires personnel who can execute in condensed formations as well as in spread looks.

What Hard Rock Stadium hosts this fall

Miami's stadium carries an unusually full calendar beyond Dolphins home games. It hosts the Miami Hurricanes, the annual Orange Bowl, the Miami Open tennis tournament on adjacent grounds and periodic international soccer, and it has been part of major event rotations including the World Cup.

That utilization affects field conditions and scheduling in ways that matter to the football operation. Groundskeeping between events on a compressed calendar is a genuine logistical challenge, and playing surface quality has been a recurring subject at multi-use venues across the league.

For fans, the practical effect is that the venue is active most weekends from August through the winter. The Dolphins preseason home slate against the Giants and Falcons opens that stretch, with the Hurricanes season beginning shortly after.

Ticket demand for preseason games runs well below regular season levels across the league, which makes August the most accessible window for fans wanting to see the stadium without secondary market prices.

What's next

Miami hosts the New York Giants at Hard Rock Stadium in preseason week two, preceded by joint practices between the teams. Those practices typically produce more usable evaluation footage than the game that follows, and coaching staffs script situational work into them deliberately.

The questions worth tracking through the rest of August are Achane's workload as he returns from shoulder surgery, the offensive line's cohesion under a scheme that asks more of it in the run game, and whether Willis builds on the opener or whether the quarterback picture remains unsettled into September.

Miami closes the preseason against the Atlanta Falcons before final roster cuts. The regular season follows shortly after, and the first meaningful evaluation of the Hafley era will come then rather than now.