The Dolphins' Immediate Plans at Quarterback

Skylar Thompson is in line to make his first start at quarterback for the Miami Dolphins since the 2022 playoff game.

Miami Dolphins quarterback Skylar Thompson (19) fakes a handoff to running back De'Von Achane (28) during the fourth quarter at Hard Rock Stadium on Thursday night. / Sam Navarro-Imagn Images

Skylar Thompson will be the Miami Dolphins starting quarterback.

At the same time, Tua Tagovailoa remains sidelined with his latest concussion, but the team will add another player to the 53-man roster.

That was the word from head coach Mike McDaniel on Friday morning.

McDaniel refused to discuss timelines for Tagovailoa's status, including the idea of placing him on injured reserve or the possibility of retirement. However, he did say he had a hard time envisioning him in the lineup for the team's next game, September 22nd, against the Seattle Seahawks at Lumen Field.

Thompson earned the position of backup quarterback in training camp when he beat out Mike White, who handled it last season.

When he replaced Tagovailoa late in the third quarter against the Buffalo Bills on Thursday night, it marked Thompson's first regular-season action since the 2022 season, when he started three games, including the 34-31 playoff loss against those same Bills.

McDaniel said evaluating quarterback options with Dolphins General Manager Chris Grier started late Thursday night.

"I think the way to best articulate where we're at is for the team and the organization to be very confident in Skylar," McDaniel said during a Zoom media session Friday morning. "There was a reason he was our backup quarterback. That being said, we will bring in someone. We're just evaluating the pros and cons of the different situations and getting through all those possibilities to do the best thing for the team. But as it stands today. I'm expecting that Skylar is the next man up."

VETERAN QB OPTIONS

The Dolphins do have a veteran quarterback on the practice squad: Tim Boyle, the former Packers and Jets backup. Boyle has a 0-5 record as an NFL starter and a 53.3 career passer rating.

Among veterans, that name that jumps out is that of former Dolphins first-round pick and longtime starter Ryan Tannehill. He played for the Tennessee Titans last season. Still, he never hooked up with another team when he became an unrestricted free agent this offseason after losing his starting job to 2023 second-round pick Will Levis.

Another option would be to bring back Mike White, who competed with Thompson for the No. 2 job and obviously is very familiar with the offense. He's currently on the Bills practice squad and likely wouldn't turn down the chance to come back to South Florida, especially considering an active roster contract pays much better than a practice squad one.

The other veterans still on the market basically consist of journeymen who need more starting experience.

Former 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo would make sense if Tua ended up missing a significant amount of time, given his history with McDaniel. However, Garoppolo currently plays for the Los Angeles Rams, so the Dolphins would have to work out a trade with them.

Garoppolo will finish serving Sunday his two-game NFL suspension for violating the league's performance-enhancing drug policy.

Of course, some will throw out the idea of the Dolphins placing a call to Tom Brady — again, if it turns out that Tua's absence is prolonged — but the seven-time Super Bowl champion quarterback is making an awful lot of money to talk about NFL games instead of playing in them.

The Dolphins went a similar route in 2017 after Tannehill tore an ACL early in training camp when they lured Jay Cutler out of the broadcast booth, though his salary to work as an analyst was nowhere near the $37.5 million annual salary that Brady is getting from FOX.

It's also possible that the Dolphins' list of prospective new quarterbacks could change once they get more information on Tagovailoa's status.

But that wasn't something McDaniel was prepared to discuss Friday morning.

"I have zero idea what any sort of timeline is," he said. "And I'm actually extremely motivated to be in the gray because I'm extremely motivated to do right by the person that we're talking about. That's not an ideal way to do business, necessarily. But this is more than business, you know? So we just have to operate in the unknown and be prepared for every situation, and that's all I want to do, or we should do, just because I'm not going to rush to judgment way prematurely.

"I'll even throw this out. The only two opinions that really matter, that are the absolute driving force for what we're doing at that position: Tua and the doctors. I don't have any information from them. Me, myself, if I'm a betting man, I'm guessing that those two people, I don't see how he would play in the next game. I don't see it, but who am I to who am I to know or judge? But I think it's a fair assessment to be prepared to have three quarterbacks in a roster for the next game that will need to add one for that game."