The 'Snoop' Scoop: Why Huntley Remains the QB for Now

Miami Dolphins QB Tyler Huntley has done enough to earn the trust of head coach Mike McDaniel

Miami Dolphins quarterback Tyler Huntley (18) throws the ball during the first half against the New England Patriots at Gillette Stadium. / Paul Rutherford-Imagn Images

The Miami Dolphins have their bye next weekend, so their initial backup quarterback Skylar Thompson will have another week for his injured ribs to heal.

But head coach Mike McDaniel is sticking with Tyler Huntley as his starter while Tua Tagovailoa remains sidelined.

Huntley has started the past two games after Thompson was injured in the third quarter of his first start, the 24-3 loss against the Seattle Seahawks in Week 3.

While Huntley didn't put up very good numbers — 18 completions in 31 attempts for 194 yards with one interception and a 63.1 passer rating — in the 15-10 victory against the New England Patriots on Sunday, McDaniel was pleased with the way he ran the offense.

"I think I feel as it stands right now, I feel very happy with the way Snoop I thought went from managing the offense, so to speak, his first outing to I thought he was executing the offense, and that's to his credit," McDaniel said Monday. "So I feel pretty good about how fast he's developed. And I would guess to forecast continuing that development process with the offense as the operation was better, but not as good as it could be, and you hope that that with continuity, there's a improvement in that."

The Dolphins finished with 372 total yards in their victory against New England, though 193 of those came on the ground.

The longtime Baltimore Ravens backup, Huntley joined the Dolphins on September 17 from the Ravens practice squad when they put Tagovailoa on injured reserve because of the concussion he sustained in the Week 2 loss against the Buffalo Bills.

WHAT THIS SAYS ABOUT THOMPSON AND THE OFFSEASON

Thompson got the start in Week 3 against Seattle, which is what you would have expected considering he won the battle for the backup job in training camp against the 2023 No. 2 QB, Mike White.

The offense struggled in that Seattle game and while he didn't get a ton of help from his offensive teammates, Thompson looked like a quarterback who wasn't ready for the moment.

McDaniel's decision to continue with Huntley at this time until Tagovailoa returns to the lineup — which could be sooner rather than later — certainly could be seen as an indictment on the Dolphins decision to leave themselves in a position where Thompson would be their backup quarterback.

That McDaniel doesn't want to go back to Thompson after one start when Huntley, in the coach's own words, is making progress more than anything speaks volumes about the level of confidence in the quarterbacks.

Sticking with Huntley would be totally understandable and no knock on Thompson had he lit it up in his two starts, but that's certainly not what happened — the evidence is the Dolphins scoring 27 points in those two games.

In a way, there's no sense in looking back for the Dolphins, who clearly miscalculated the backup QB position in the offseason, when they've decided that Huntley is the better man for the job at this time.