No QB Clarity for Dolphins Monday Night Football

The Miami Dolphins might start one of three quarterbacks when facing the Tennessee Titans in Week 4.

Miami Dolphins quarterback Tim Boyle (14) prepares to throw the ball during the third quarter against the Seattle Seahawks at Lumen Field. / Kevin Ng-Imagn Images

The Miami Dolphins will face the Tennessee Titans on Monday night with Tim Boyle as their starting quarterback. Or it could be Tyler Huntley. Or even Skylar Thompson, who left Week 3 because of a chest injury.

That was the word from head coach Mike McDaniel on Tuesday, two days after the Dolphins' 24-3 loss against the Seattle Seahawks when Boyle replaced Thompson in the second half after he was injured.

The first step in the decision-making process might be the health of Thompson, who was injured in the second quarter after taking a shot in the midsection.

"I think as Skylar progresses, I think that leaves variables more vague," McDaniel said. "Important 48 hours to kind of see where he's at and also to get in front of the rest of the quarterback room and talk with them, talk with coaches, talk with some of the players to get them as most comfortable with the varied uncertainty. And we'll just have to take it a day at a time."

McDaniel also didn't dismiss the possibility of the Dolphins adding another quarterback, saying a call on that would be made before Wednesday.

DOLPHINS DON'T HAVE A LOT OF STARTING EXPERIENCE AT QUARTERBACK

Huntley has the most starting experience of the three Dolphins quarterbacks currently on the 53-man roster — after all, Tua Tagovailoa is on injured reserve. Still, that experience consists of only nine starts as a backup with the Baltimore Ravens.

He joined the Dolphins last week when he was signed off the Ravens practice squad, but McDaniel said Boyle got the nod as the second quarterback Sunday because Huntley hadn't been around long enough.

"That was something that we utilized the week to kind of assess," McDaniel said. "You want to be fair to all parties. You don't want to rush to judgment and assume that people will assimilate. Fully knowing that it was going to be difficult this past week for a guy getting there on Tuesday to feel comfortable leading the offense but also a veteran guy, so you just let it play out. At the end of the day we just thought that the quarterback affects a lot of players every on down in down out and that Tim was the the better option for that moment on that day."

McDaniel said a decision would be made sooner rather than later and that he didn't envision splitting reps at practice.

"Yeah, I think you have to kind of make a decision for sure, just because the limited reps and kind of splitting those up is already difficult," McDaniel said. "And then weighing that against, there's also the scenario of Skylar coming back but in a limited fashion, which kind of makes it even more gray, which you're probably going to have to make a decision before. You'd like to just give the players a chance to adequately perform on [Monday].

"Those are things we are very open at this point, but there are some decisions that are to come earlier and then depending on how Skylar plays out and some of the conversations play out among the staff and [GM Chris Grier] alike, I think we'll come to a definitive conclusion on how we want to work through the week. where it's going to be Huntley and Boyle, just because of the limited time."