MIAMI — The Miami Dolphins did not invent quarterback turmoil and might not even lead the league in it with 13 backups already having been deployed the first month of this NFL season. But the Fins’ case for calamity kings is a strong one and will be dubiously showcased nationwide Monday night.
Starter Tua Tagovailoa, fragile as a porcelain heirloom, is sidelined at least another three games and perhaps indefinitely by yet another concussion. Backup Skylar Thompson filled in last week and quickly got knocked out with a rib injury that almost certainly will shelve him Monday. Tim Boyle replaced Thompson but is the break-glass-in-case-of-emergency guy you hope stays on the sideline under a ball cap.
So Tyler (Snoop) Huntley is widely expected to get the prime-time start despite having just been signed Sept. 16, though coach Mike McDaniel has been mum on sharing his choice. Huntley got his nickname for a supposed resemblance to rapper Snoop Dogg. Let’s now see if he also resembles a quality NFL passer, yet unknown across 10 career starts (and a 3-7 record) for a really good Baltimore team.
Barring a miracle recovery by Thompson this will be the 11th time in the franchise’s 59 seasons that Miami has started three QBs in one season.
(I would note as a de facto Dolphins historian that only once, in maiden year 1966, have the Dolphins started four different QBs. That was under George Wilson, an aging coach playing out the string. Journeyman Dick Wood started the opener and four games in all. George Jr., the coach’s son, started seven games, completed 41% of his passes and never played football again. Top draft pick Rick Norton started two games and fellow rookie John Stofa one.)
Miami has made the playoffs 23 times in 47 seasons when starting one or two QBs in a year, but only once in 11 seasons starting three or more. But! The lone exception was in 2022, Tagovailoa’s previous concussed season, when Teddy Bridgewater and Thompson also started — with Thompson under center and almost winning at Buffalo in the playoffs, 34-31.
OK. From the historical past now to the present tense (and I do mean tense).
Two points need elaboration:
— 1. Too soon to implode, so enough with the carpet of gloom at 1-2, no matter the QB drama.
— 2. The Dolphins should have major concern at the most important position moving forward.
Both can be true, and are.
The Fins fashioned the 1972 Perfect Season with backup Earl Morrall starting more than half the games, including two of three in the playoffs. Miami made the playoffs in ‘78 with backup Don Strock starting seven of 16 games. The Dolphins reached the 1982 Super Bowl with David Woodley. Made the playoffs in ‘99 with backup Damon Huard starting five games. And twice made the playoffs with Jay Fiedler.
The point is QB injuries or marginal play at that position are no excuse for failure if the rest of the team is good enough.
And this Dolphins team has the talent, on paper, to be good enough. But is the coaching good enough. Is the leadership and psyche good enough? The loss in Seattle was some of the sloppiest, most embarrassingly undisciplined I have seen a Dolphins team in years.
That game was not lost because Thompson and Boyle were taking snaps.
I join the predictable chorus with the clarity of retrospect in saying Miami should have signed a trustworthy veteran backup given Tagovailoa’s injury history. (I have written at least twice in columns the phrase, “Anybody got Ryan Tannehill’s phone number?”)
But Thompson and Huntley are not abnormally weak as backups go, and neither is this Dolphins regime the first to wish it had better in reserve
Cleo Lemon, Scott Secules, Sage Rosenfels, John Beck, Tyler Thigpen … I cannot count on three hands across club annals the number of fill-in QBs you hoped never had to fill in.
Tagovailoa’s absence certainly is no excuse right now for Miami not to win Monday night vs. Tennessee and beyond.
The Titans are 0-3. The Patriots, a bye week, the Colts and the Cardinals (when Tagovailoa could be back) follow. Miami’s next four opponents currently are a combined 3-9.
The team still has Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle, the running game that led the NFL last season, and handful of real playmakers on defense.
If McDaniel cannot adapt enough and show the ingenuity to win with this roster, even sans Tagovailoa, that’s on him. This is a test he better pass.
Now on to the broader-view situation at quarterback.
I have been as pro-Tagovailoa as anybody in this media market. Advocated for the big contact extension he got after he finally had a clean-slate season in 2023 and started every game. I still believe he is both really good and good enough when healthy.
But “when healthy” has become ominous, and something not to be counted on.
I believe his next concussion, whether later this season or in two years, will end Tagovailoa’s NFL career.
And I believe the Dolphins need to plan for that with the worst in mind.
Tagovailoa might yet enjoy a full, healthy career and I wish that for him. But Miami must have a contingency plan that does not count on Thompson, 27, or Huntley, 26, being the answer. Signing a proven veteran QB via trade or otherwise must be considered. So must using another No. 1 draft pick on the position.
The Dolphins enjoyed the solidity of Hall of Fame quarterbacking across four decades with Bob Griese (1967-80) and Dan Marino (1983-99). Post-Marino, since 2000, 26 different men have started behind center.
Tua Tagovailoa was supposed to be the next great Dolphins QB and might still be, but his recurring concussions demand a contingency plan just in case, a plan better than the one in place now.
Meantime, no excuses.
Miami’s talent is good enough to win even without Tagovailoa.
But is the team’s coaching up to the demand? Is there true belief here? Is the team’s toughness and heart big enough?
The answers will be revealed at Hard Rock Stadium on Monday night.