MIAMI — The last time the world saw Nathaniel Hackett on the main stage he ran a troublesome offense for the New York Jets, which was one of the league’s bottom-dwellers.

And that was after being run out of Denver, where he didn’t even finish his one-year tenure as the Broncos’ head coach.

The son of former University of Pittsburgh and USC coach Paul Hackett had worked his whole life to get to the pinnacle of his business, and failed massively.

Now he’s overqualified to be the Miami Dolphins’ next quarterback coach.

Hackett comes with a history of working with Aaron Rodgers, who happened to be a teamless free agent at the moment, and has some intimate knowledge about Malik Willis, the free agent quarterback everyone is connecting the dots to Miami with considering newly appointed Dolphins head coach Jeff Hafley, and newly hired general manager Jon-Eric Sullivan have history with him from their two seasons together in Green Bay.

No matter how we slice this, it appears we will be getting the Dolphins a new starting quarterback, and best of luck to all involved because we only allow NFL regimes to take so many bites at this quarterback apple.

Who remembers the last backup the Dolphins elevated into a starting role at quarterback?

This was back in the early days of life without Dan Marino, back before the Dolphins were lost deep in the wilderness, before the two-decade ride on the mediocrity merry-go-round.

Back in 2000 the Dolphins plucked Jay Fiedler from the Jacksonville Jaguars roster and made him the team’s starter for the majority of four seasons. While Fiedler led Miami to an impressive winning percentage (67%) in his first four seasons — before a 1-6 season that led to a regime change in 2005 — he was viewed as nothing more than a game manager.

Miami should have been shopping for an upgrade his entire tenure with the Dolphins, or developing a better quarterback. But that never happened. And in fact, to this day there’s a belief that the Dolphins franchise squandered a great Jason Taylor and Zach Thomas-led defense with Fiedler as Miami’s starter.

Those were the Dave Wannstedt days, and now history might be repeating itself with the freshest fruit from the Wanny coaching tree.

Hafley, who got his biggest break from Wannstedt during the former Dolphins coach’s time leading the Pittsburgh Panthers, could go the elevate-a-backup route.

While Willis, a former third-round pick of the Tennessee Titans, has thrived as a backup in Green Bay (which traded for him) during the past two years, the sample size is miniscule. But in his brief stints on the field Willis has showcased impressive traits, and has produced a 3-1 record while delivering a 135.1 passer rating.

In the past two seasons Willis has completed 79.9% of his passes, throwing for 13.9 yards per completion, with six touchdowns and no interceptions. He has also gained 261 yards and scored three rushing touchdowns on 42 scrambles.

While it’s a massive projection of what he’d become in a starting role, playing for a team that fully invests in his skills, the biggest questions that will be asking over the next month is ...

— At what price?

— And what team is Miami’s competition?

The Jets gave Justin Fields a two-year, $40 million deal last offseason, which guaranteed him $30 million, and that’s likely where the bidding starts with Miami (which is seemingly divorcing Tua Tagovailoa), maybe Arizona (Kyler Murray will likely be traded), Pittsburgh (would Rodgers want to play for Mike McCarthy again) and the Jets (which clearly missed on Fields).

The last time it seemed logical for a former Packers staffer (Joe Philbin) being elevated to a head coach position to pick a Green Bay backup (Matt Flynn) as his quarterback, Miami passed on the former LSU standout, who signed with the Seahawks and was subsequently beaten out by Russell Wilson, and instead went the draft route, selecting Ryan Tannehill in the first round.

Unfortunately for Miami, the 2026 draft class doesn’t feature as many potential starters as that 2012 class of quarterbacks did.

But maybe that’s coincidental, or this is being planned.

If we’re being honest, the retention of Bobby Slowik, who was Miami’s pass game coordinator last season, and will continue running a west coast-based offense, the hiring of Hackett, who has an extensive background in the west coast offense, and familiarity with Willis, whom Hafley admits he knows intimately since Willis ran the scout team that prepared Green Bay’s defense on a weekly basis, provides all the dots we need to create a clear picture

However, only time, execution of a possible plan, and quarterback development — the most important ingredient — will determine if it’s a visually appealing one, or not.

____

©2026 Miami Herald. Visit miamiherald.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.