Diving Into the Dolphins QB Situation

The Miami Dolphins are dealing with concussion issues at the most important position and now are ready to have their third starting quarterback of the season

Having to deal with quarterback changes is nothing new for the Miami Dolphins, who haven't had a 16-game starter at the position since 2015.

But it's usually nothing as dramatic as what the Dolphins are experiencing in the first half of the 2022 season. In fact, this is almost unprecedented.

With Mike McDaniel announcing Wednesday morning that rookie seventh-round pick Skylar Thompson would start against the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday, that will give the team three different starting quarterbacks in the first six games.

That hasn't happened with the Dolphins since 1980 when the team had three different starting quarterbacks in their first four games — Bob Griese, Don Strock and David Woodley.

It's the 11th time overall the Dolphins will have had three different starting QBs in a season — they've never had four — and the first time since 2010.

The changes, of course, have been necessitated by the concussion sustained by Tua Tagovailoa against Cincinnati and the concussion that Teddy Bridgewater did or did not sustain against the New York Jets — the final determination there not being a factor because he was ruled out because a spotter determined he had exhibited ataxia.

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THE DECISION TO START SKYLAR

There's a lot to unpack here based on the news Wednesday, and we'll start with the decision to already announce Thompson as the starter for Week 6.

At first glance, this appears to be either an indication of great confidence in the rookie seventh-round pick after his great preseason and his uneven NFL regular season debut, a performance that we deemed much, much better than the final stats might suggest or it says something about the way the Dolphins feel about Bridgewater.

Or something in between, maybe the idea that Thompson with a full week of practice as the starter can be just as effective as Bridgewater with limited practice time as he continues to work his way back from the concussion protocol.

But here's another factor to consider, and that's the idea of playing it safe.

And this might be where McDaniel indicating that Bridgewater still was feeling sore in his pectoral muscle Wednesday morning might come into play.

Remember, McDaniel said that Bridgewater passed the concussion tests at MetLife Stadium on Sunday, so the feeling is that from that standpoint he should get cleared before game day.

But maybe, just maybe, McDaniel wanted to give the rookie the best chance possible to succeed and determined that the best way to do that was to have him practice the whole week knowing he would start, as opposed to preparing him just in case Bridgewater isn't ready — either because of a concussion protocol setback or because the pec injury is an issue — and then give him the start once the practice week is over.

Or maybe it's a combination of all the factors mentioned above.

OPTIMISM WITH TUA BUT ALSO CAUTION

The other significant development with the Dolphins quarterbacks Wednesday, of course, was the return of Tua to practice.

Even though it was on a limited basis, it was a great sign for the quarterback's recovery and watching him throw passes in the portion of practice open to the media, it looked like the same Tua we've seen all year.

That, of course, will lead to speculation that Tua will be good to go for the Sunday night game against the Steelers and McDaniel only ruled him out of the Minnesota game out of precaution and because Tua hasn't had a full practice in two weeks.

But as optimistic as Dolphins fans want to be here, it's important to remember that concussions are tricky business and the team is going to err on the side of caution when it comes to Tagovailoa's health after what he experienced in Cincinnati.

Based on CBS Sports HQ NFL Insider Josina Anderson's report Wednesday, what we're saying if we shouldn't assume that Tagovailoa is a definitely a good for the Pittsburgh game, as McDaniel indicated in his media session.

A league source told me on that same call that there's some discussion/ concern about QB Tua Tagovailoa potentially* still needing more time out beyond Wk6 to be fully healed

Also heard how much the #Dolphins really appreciate QB Skylar Thompson's full knowledge of the playbook.

— JosinaAnderson (@JosinaAnderson) October 12, 2022

It's also important to note that the Dolphins will be heading into the "soft" part of their schedule following the Minnesota game.

Starting with Week 7, the list of opponents: Pittsburgh (1-4), Detroit (1-4), Chicago (2-3), Houston (1-3-1) and Cleveland (2-3).

BAD BREAK FOR BRIDGEWATER

What shouldn't be lost in this whole situation is how much this sucks for Bridgewater.

It was because of the NFL's new concussion rules — if you call it an overreaction, you're not off the mark — that his first start for his hometown team was shut down after only one play.

And now he's going to miss out on the chance to face the team that drafted him in the first round of the 2014 NFL draft, the kind of game that always has extra meaning for players no matter how much they try to downplay it.

And it's fair to wonder when Bridgewater will get another chance to start for the Dolphins either because Tua returns to the lineup or because Thompson has a strong performance against Minnesota and the Dolphins want to stick with him against Pittsburgh if Tua isn't ready to come back.

The Dolphins clearly think highly of Bridgewater, otherwise they wouldn't have given him $6.5 million guaranteed to provide an upgrade at the backup quarterback spot over Jacoby Brissett.

But just like Tua, he's now become the victim of some really bad luck.