‘It ain’t easy.’ Dolphins LB Willie Gay Jr. talks disappointing 2025 season
Everybody knows about the scream.
Beginning in training camp, it became a mainstay at Miami Dolphins’ practices, so much so that the franchise’s various social media accounts were littered with clips of the exclamation.
What’s far less known, however, is what the 2025 season did to the originator of said scream, one Willie Gay Jr.
“It ain’t easy,” the linebacker said Thursday. “I got my why’s. Just hanging in there. Do what I do and trust the Lord.”
That’s because last year was a bit disappointing. Whether Gay, who signed a one-year deal with the Dolphins ahead of the 2025 season, was initially lured to Miami with the promise of playing time was unclear. What’s abundantly apparent, however, was that Gay barely received any snaps that year, something that puzzled fans and media members alike considering his stellar training camp.
“He just brings great energy,” linebacker Tyrel Dodson said in August 2025. “His aura is crazy, as the young guys say these days. But Willie, I’ve been knowing Willie for about five years now. Just going back and having respect for each other being in the AFC East, the AFC when he was in Kansas City, and I was in Buffalo, but Willie is a hell of a guy. He not only brings on the field; he brings off the field.”
The playing time, however, never came. Despite having registered 57 starts across his six-year career, Gay only had two in 2025. That number was the lowest since the Kansas City Chiefs selected him in the second round of the 2020 NFL Draft.
“I’ve got to find a way to get Willie on the field and I told him that the next day,” former Dolphins defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver said in early September. “There was a plan certainly to get him in the game; plans change. There was some chaos there for a little bit, but I need to get him. He’s impactful. He’s earned the right to get on the field, so I’ve got to make that happen.”
Unfortunately, the career lows didn’t stop there. He also did so in several different categories including snap percentage (12), total tackles (20) and pass deflections (two).
It’s no surprise that when asked what will make 2026 season a success, Gay kept it simple.
“I just want to play football,” Gay said. “I want to get on the field. I’m not going lie to you. I know what I can bring to the able, so I want to be on the field.”
Although the Dolphins underwent a lot of changes in offseason, a few remnants of the previous staff – specifically run game coordinator Joe Barry – gave Gay faith that 2026 will be different from the previous year.
“The role thing definitely got me,” Gay said, also listing the continuity of players like Jordyn Brooks, Dodson and Jackson Woodard that helped make the decision easier. “For him to remain on staff — and he called me during free agency – that played a big role.”
Of course no. one knows what the future holds. The sam linebacker position, Gay’s favorite, remains up for grabs. Sure, he will have competition — namely a pair of rookies in Trey Moore and Kyle Louis, the latter of whom could be the steal of the draft — yet his veteran status could help him land a starting role.
That experience could bode well for a linebacker core that already includes an All-Pro in Brooks. Gay was a starter on the Kansas City Chiefs team that won back-to-back Super Bowls in 2022 and 2023. If he can find his 2022 form, a season in which he posted 88 tackles, 2.5 sacks and a pick-six, Gay could potentially carve out a role in 2026 and beyond.
