Thompson Gets Taste of 'Wild NFL Football'

Miami Dolphins rookie seventh-round pick Skylar Thompson passed for 166 yards in his NFL debut against the New York Jets

Ed Mullholland - USA Today Sports

When the Miami Dolphins drafted Skylar Thompson in the seventh round of the 2022 NFL draft out of Kansas State, they probably didn’t expect him to play regular season snaps this season.

However, due to Tua Tagovailoa’s concussion and Teddy Bridgewater being placed in concussion protocol after one play, Thompson made his NFL debut against the New York Jets on Sunday.

THOMPSON HAD A LOT OF OVERCOME IN HIS FIRST NFL APPEARANCE

Thompson completed 19 of 33 passes for 166 yards, two turnovers (one fumble, one INT) and zero touchdowns in the Dolphins' 40-17 loss. Thompson was victimized by three dropped passes and the interception occurred after his arm was hit by Jets defensive lineman John Franklin-Myers as he was releasing his pass intended for River Cracraft.

Despite the outcome, Thompson was happy to see his first NFL action.

“It was great to get out there and get my feet wet,” Thompson said. “The first real taste of wild NFL football for sure, as far as getting experience, the atmosphere on the road, live reps. So it felt good to get out there and get that going.”

Thompson had his struggles throughout the game Sunday, but that shouldn’t be surprising given what he had to deal with. Thompson didn’t take first-team reps during practice and left tackle Terron Armstead missed most of the game with a toe injury, which clearly limited the offensive line’s pass protection.

Additionally, there’s a reason Thompson was picked in the seventh round and not higher — he needed time to develop.

THOMPSON'S TEAMMATES IMPRESSED 

Wide receiver Tyreek Hill, who left the game in the fourth quarter with a foot injury, was impressed with the way Thompson handled getting thrust into the game.

“He did a tremendous job,” Hill said. “For him not being able to get all of the practice reps (and) just come in, play-calling and stuff like that, because our play calls, I feel like, are very tough, especially for a young quarterback. For him to just step in the way he did, complete passes and stuff like that, it’s great. And for him moving forward, he’s going to be able to build off of that for his confidence. Looking forward to playing with him more.”

To Thompson’s credit, there were some bright spots in his performance. During Miami’s final drive of the first half, Thompson completed 6 of 7 passing attempts, allowing Miami to score a touchdown and cut the Jets' lead to 19-14.

Head coach Mike McDaniel said there wasn’t a big play-calling adjustment with Thompson in the game instead of Bridgewater.

“It adjusted a little bit,” McDaniel said. “You try to do stuff that the quarterback that’s playing is very comfortable with. We’re in communication all week and I kind of have an idea, so there’s maybe a couple of calls that I would have done a hair different with Teddy. But for the most part, Skylar has earned the confidence of the team. He did have a rough rookie outing, but that’s not really a cause of concern moving forward knowing that he’s the type of person that he is. The biggest thing is he has to learn from it, which I know he will.”

One thing that clearly changed with Thompson at quarterback was the lack of involvement of Hill and Jaylen Waddle. Hill finished with 47 yards, which is his second-worst yardage output of the season, and Waddle finished the game with season-lows in targets (3) and yards (23).

The three did combine for three defensive pass interference penalties drawn, which gave the Dolphins a combined 95 yards.

Despite his overall lack of involvement, Waddle liked what he saw from Thompson.

“I was impressed,” Waddle said. “It’s tough to go in there, but I think he handled it really well. He commanded the offense, got the O-line going, and got the run game going. We just have to have more of an offense to put everything together.”

THOMPSON LOOKS AHEAD TO MAKE CORRECTIONS

It’s unclear if Tagovailoa or Bridgewater, who McDaniel said did’t have any concussion symptoms, will be available to play in the Dolphins' next game against the Minnesota Vikings at Hard Rock Stadium on Oct. 16.

Regardless of whether Thompson plays against Minnesota, he knows he can make a lot of improvements this week.

"I just really try to hone in on my thoughts right now and what things looked like on the field to me every play,” Thompson said. Then, [I’ll] try to go back and watch the film and try to correlate with my eyes, ‘Did I see this correctly? What could I have done differently on this play?’ There’s a lot to learn out there, I know that for sure. So, I’m excited to watch the tape and start improving on the things that I need to.”