The Backup QB Change and What It Means

Tyler "Snoop" Huntley will be the No. 2 quarterback against the New York Jets on Sunday

Miami Dolphins quarterback Skylar Thompson (19) prepares to throw the ball during the second quarter against the Seattle Seahawks at Lumen Field. / Kevin Ng-Imagn Images

The Skylar Thompson experiment is over.

His days as the Miami Dolphins backup quarterback are done.

Head coach Mike McDaniel didn't say it directly Monday afternoon, but he might as well have with a brief sentence telling reporters at the Baptist Health Training Complex that Tyler "Snoop" Huntley would serve as the backup quarterback for Tua Tagovailoa in the upcoming game against the New York Jets at Hard Rock Stadium.

Huntley was activated from injured reserve last Thursday, hours before the Thanksgiving night game at Green Bay after missing more than a month with a shoulder injury.

"I wanted to see Snoop operate and everything," McDaniel said, "but the plan is to have him back Tua up this week."

The switch came eight days after Thompson played two snaps in the 34-15 victory against the New England Patriots, an appearance long enough to produce a botched handoff with rookie Jaylen Wright that turned into a fumble return for a touchdown that prompted McDaniel to reinsert Tagovailoa into the game.

While he didn't blame Thompson specifically for the mishap — and replays don't clearly show who was at fault — McDaniel indicated he wasn't pleased with the operation of the play. At the same time, he said he still trusted Thompson, which is exactly what anyone should have expected him to say.

But his actions have spoken louder than his words.

And regardless of whether this was the impetus behind the move or McDaniel liked the way Huntley performed during his three starters in relief of Thompson after he was injured in his first start in relief of Tagovailoa, Huntley has surpassed Thompson on the depth chart.

And the sad reality is that Huntley didn't exactly light it up during his stint at quarterback this season and the offense struggled badly with Tagovailoa on injured reserve.

In Huntley's three starts, the Dolphins averaged 12.3 points, with a high of 15 points against New England in Week 5 when Miami rushed for 188 yards.

Huntley completed less than 60 percent of his passes (despite mostly throwing short) and had an unsightly 73.9 passer rating.

In other words, he wasn't impressive.

But he still inspires more confidence in McDaniel than Thompson.

That says it all.

WHY DID THE DOLPHINS STICK WITH SKYLAR?

At this point, the question probably should be asked: Why should the Dolphins bother taking up a spot on the 53-man roster for Thompson when it's clear he won't be stepping back onto the field unless it's an emergency?

The writing on the wall pretty much already was there for Thompson when Huntley got the start for the Week 7 game at Indianapolis despite Thompson having recovered enough from his rib injury to be a full participant at practice all week.

Again, it's not like Huntley got the offense cranking when he was in the game.

No, the Dolphins offense was a mess without Tua, to a degree we didn't see in other spots around the NFL, such as Green Bay when Malik Willis had to start a couple of games after Jordan Love sustained an ankle injury.

And, yes, the offense is designed around what Tagovailoa does best and there's no way to build the timing required to make it work the same without the practice reps, but it still says here there should have been some level of functionality for the offense even with Tua on IR and not what looked like the worst offense in the NFL.

That's either on McDaniel from not making the necessary adjustments to fit his backups, but more so the failure of the organization to properly address the backup quarterback position in the offseason.

The Dolphins were content with running back with Thompson and Mike White, giving Thompson the No. 2 role after a summer when neither player looked particularly impressive.

In the meantime, several solid veteran options were available at the start of free agency, such as Joe Flacco, Marcus Mariota and Jimmy Garoppolo.

It will be incumbent upon the Dolphins to do better in this regard next offseason and secure a better backup for Tagovailoa.

At this point, it could be any number of candidates. But we know it won't be Skylar Thompson. Or at least it shouldn't be.