It very well might be that the Miami Dolphins should start Kyle McCord at quarterback in their Week 10 game against the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday.

It's just not for the reason a portion of fans, one that seems to be growing, would suggest.

Like it or not, Malik Willis is the Miami Dolphins' starting quarterback and that's almost assuredly not changing at any point this season.

Full stop.

Just remember the comments from Jeff Hafley to the CBS crew ahead of the Dolphins' Week 7 matchup against the New York Jets when the idea of the fans wanting a change was brought up and Hafley replied with a full backing as well as some astonishment that the idea even would come up.

DOLPHINS PLAYING THE LONG GAME WITH WILLIS

Fans will be fans, and it's easy to look at Willis' stats and the offense's struggles to decide he's not going to be the answer at quarterback, though that's basically a premature evaluation.

That Willis wouldn't be able to produce big numbers with a supporting cast that anyone would agree is among the worst in the NFL really shouldn't be catching anybody by surprise.

And, no, it's not like you could insert a large number of quarterbacks and suddenly the offense would work, and if you're throwing Josh Allen in as one of those guys, well, let's just understand we're talking about a player who's basically in the top three in the MVP voting every year.

And, yes, if the Dolphins could get a Josh Allen, then Malik Willis could be discarded permanently.

It's just that those guys don't grow on trees and don't come along very often.

The whole idea with Willis was to bring him in at a very reasonable price for a starting quarterback of $45 million guaranteed over the next two years and give him the chance to show he could be the long-term answer quarterback and, if not, the Dolphins can look for that answer in the 2027 draft, in the 2028 or in free agency or the trade market is a high-end veteran becomes available.

It's not an evaluation that needs to be completed right away, maybe not even after the entire 2026 season, certainly not after only eight games.

And that evaluation never was going to be — and never should have been — based strictly on stats and offensive production.

Rather, it's going to come from certain moments, plays, situations and how Willis does with those.

And that evaluation will be completely subjective, with the only opinions that matter being those of GM Jon-Eric Sullivan, head coach Jeff Hafley and the rest of the Dolphins organization.

And, yes, there have been some flashes that suggest Willis could be just fine as the quarterback for a contending team — once the Dolphins beef up the talent around him on offense and some of young players gain more experience.

Take Sunday, for example.

The numbers will suggest a very poor outing for Willis, with only 128 passing yards and a 50.1 passer rating.

OK, but those numbers have to be evaluated with a 51-yard completion to Kevin Coleman Jr. being nullified by a penalty, Will Kacmarek and Caleb Douglas both dropping passes, one on third down and the other on fourth down.

There also was a completion to Caleb Douglas that didn't count because the Lions were offside, but on that play there was immediate pressure on Willis and he managed to pass around the oncoming blitzer by changing his arm angle to the side and firing a strike.

And then we have to ask ourselves how many quarterbacks actually would make that completion.

Yes, Willis could be more decisive in making decisions to throw passes, but those All-22 reviews make it seems a lot easier than it is.

And the bottom line here is that Willis is operating under duress more often than not because of leaky pass protection.

WHY WILLIS SHOULD SIT

Another factor to consider in the game against Detroit was that Willis was operating at less than 100 percent, which likely was the case as well against New England.

Remember that Willis showed up on the injury report before the game against the Patriots because of a groin injury and he had one rushing attempt that day — a third-and-1 QB sneak — after having eight against both the Bengals and New York Jets when he had his best performance of the season.

While Willis denied anything was wrong after the New England game, there was no more hiding it after the Detroit game when he clearly looked hampered while scrambling.

And even one of those scrambles was good enough for a first down, except that Aaron Brewer was flagged for holding.

And, let's be real, Willis being restricted to pocket passing because of a groin injury isn't doing anybody any favors.

Based on the limited sample size we've gotten so far with the Dolphins, it looks like maybe Willis could be a Jalen Hurts type with more arm talent.

And this is where we'll remind everyone the Eagles went to the Super Bowl twice with Hurts and won one title. So if Willis gets there, that would be plenty good enough for a starting quarterback.

But Willis at less than 100 percent and barely able to run — that includes scrambling away from pressure or picking up first downs — just isn't going to work very often. Particularly at this stage with the supporting cast he has.

So this is where we would suggest that unless Willis' groin is totally fine as the week of practice begins, Hafley should strongly consider sitting Willis against Indianapolis to make sure he gets right physically so the evaluation can resume properly.

Hafley didn't want to speculate on the severity of Willis' injury Monday, but the nature of groin issues is that typically the only remedy is some time off.

The idea of Kyle McCord starting certainly would please a lot of Dolphins fans, eager to see what he can do and hoping that's the hidden gem the team unearthed with the trade to Green Bay, though we'd caution against expecting too much out of a quarterback who has played exactly zero NFL regular season snaps and is on his third team.

The bottom line is Willis deserves more time before any judgments are made, though it's unrealistic to expect every fan to not want big results yesterday.

But Willis also needs to be at his best physically when he's in the lineup.