Sizing Up the Skylar Situation ... and a Quick Dolphins History Lesson on No. 3 QBs

Seventh-round pick Skylar Thompson played well enough in the preseason that he might have given the Miami Dolphins no choice but to keep him on the 53-man roster

Kim Klement - USA Today Sports

Quarterback Skylar Thompson was the star of the preseason for the Miami Dolphins, and as a result he's not the topic of perhaps the biggest question when it comes to the roster decisions to get to the 53-player limit.

Should the Dolphins keep the rookie seventh-round pick on the active roster? Better yet, can they afford not to?

The choice is pretty simple: Keep Thompson and sacrifice a spot at another position or waive Thompson with the idea of re-signing him to the practice squad, hoping that another team doesn't claim him off waivers Wednesday.

There usually wouldn't be much danger in exposing Thompson to waivers given his late-round status, but his preseason performance (138.4 passer rating) changed all that.

While there's a danger in putting too much stock in preseason performances, where several starters played limited snaps or not at all and defensive schemes are very basic so as to not reveal secrets, Thompson just flat-out looked like the real in the three games we've witnessed.

And put another way, he certainly looked better than anybody the Detroit Lions have at quarterback behind Jared Goff. In fact, Publisher John Maakaron of SI Fan Nation sister site All Lions projected the team to cut backups David Blough and Tim Boyle and leave Goff as the only QB on the roster until the team can find somebody else.

While most teams these days end up keeping only two quarterbacks, it's not uncommon for there to be a third and teams around the league no doubt have paid attention to what Thompson did in the preseason.

THE CASE FOR AND AGAINST KEEPING A THIRD QUARTERBACK

But what about the argument of a third quarterback being a waste of a roster spot?

Well, to that we'd counter by wondering what kind of contribution any team should expect from the 53rd player, and the answer is not a whole lot.

From a Dolphins perspective, are they better off keeping Thompson and watching him continue to develop behind Tua Tagovailoa and Teddy Bridgewater, or keeping a fourth halfback or sixth wide receiver or extra defensive back?

Remember that the Dolphins can have that fourth halfback or sixth wide receiver or whatever else on the practice squad, and it says here the difference there wouldn't be as significant as the different between Thompson and whatever quarterback the Dolphins signed to the practice squad in the event they lost Thompson to another team.

So the decision seems pretty obvious from here.

Head coach Mike McDaniel didn't make any definitive statements about keeping Thompson on the 53 when he addressed the media Sunday, though one easily could read between the lines.

“He’s made it tough, hasn’t he?" McDaniel said. "No, I think those type of players that are able to, as rookies, come in and contribute, are always really exciting, and it’s more rare that you see a quarterback doing that. It’s more than just his quarterback rating and his completion percentage. He has owned the responsibility of the quarterback in terms of all the other players on the field with him. He’s made them better by helping them get aligned, and we’ve had very few procedural issues. And so I think in preseason football, there are a lot of quarterbacks that get opportunities.

"It’s rare that a guy can be a seventh-round draft pick and people outside of the organization actually know his name. I think he’s opened eyes with the way he’s played, and it’s made that situation very tricky, in terms of whether or not you can try to have him on practice squad or keep him on the 53 (-man roster). But you know, much like a lot of players, I think he – especially one of the things I was most happy with in this past game is pretty much all the participants can hold their head high and stand on what they’ve done in the preseason, with the closing of it being last night. And he should hold his head high and hopefully rest easy because he has done quite literally everything you can to be a part of this team.”

DOLPHINS HISTORY LESSON ON NO. 3 QBs

As we consider Thompson's status, it's only normal to look back at recent years to see if there's any pattern in regards to the Dolphins and No. 3 quarterbacks on the 53-man roster.

Well, the Dolphins carried two quarterbacks for their opener the past three seasons, with Tua Tagovailoa and Jacoby Brissett in 2021; Ryan Fitzpatrick and Tua in 2020; and Fitzpatrick and Josh Rosen in 2019.

The Dolphins also didn't have three quarterbacks in their opening-day lineup in 2018 — they had four.

Yes, four.

That year, the Dolphins started the season with Ryan Tannehill, Brock Osweiler, Luke Falk and Nick Fales.

And then in 2016, the Dolphins kept a third quarterback on the opening 53, and that quarterback was Brandon Doughty.

And Doughty, like Thompson this year, was a rookie seventh-round pick. And, with all due respect to Doughty, he wasn't anywhere near as impressive in his first preseason  (89.1 passer rating) as Thompson was this year.

So if the Dolphins could afford to keep Doughty on the 53 that year — and, remember, Miami went on to make the playoffs in that 2016 season — they certainly can afford to keep Thompson this year.

It's almost a no-brainer.