Trying to Solve the Great Dolphins QB Mystery

Miami Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel is in no hurry to name his starting quarterback for the team's Week 4 game against the Tennessee Titans.

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 have begun their full-blown preparations for their Monday night game against the Tennessee Titans with still no clear indication as to who will start quarterback.

Head coach Mike McDaniel said before practice Thursday that he some kind of an idea as to who among Skylar Thompson, Tyler Huntley and Tim Boyle will start against Tennessee, but he wasn't ready to share that information just yet.

And it might not be until Saturday that the information will come out since it's the next time he's scheduled to speak to the South Florida media.

"I have in my mind what I think, how it could play out," McDaniel said. "It's a little premature for a multitude of reasons and the very last being the competitive advantage (standpoint). ... As the week progresses, I'll be sure to shout it from the top of a building when we know that."

McDaniel doubled down Thursday on the idea that maybe the first issue that needs to be resolved is whether Thompson would be healthy enough to make a second start after he was injured during the Dolphins' 24-3 loss against the Seattle Seahawks in Week 3.

Thompson was spotted during the portion of practice open to the media Thursday, but appeared to be limited and didn't exactly look like somebody ready to play an NFL game.

McDaniel said before practice there was an issue of pain tolerance with Thompson's rib injury as well as not putting himself in harm's way.

"I think as Skylar progresses, I think that leaves variables more vague," McDaniel said Tuesday. "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."

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 Thursday he was happy about Huntley's progress in getting acclimated with the playbook.

"I'm feeling much more knowledgeable about exactly where he's at over the course of the last half week and very encouraged," McDaniel said. "Chris and his staff in conjunction with the coaching staff, we targeted him for a reason. And it's a player that we're very familiar with from the opponent standpoint. And then we have a couple coaches that have been on staff with him on the same team with our defense coordinator."

Indeed, defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver is familiar with what Huntley can do, and his resume is more impressive than that of either Thompson or Boyle.

Based on that, plus Thompson's injury and reading between the lines of McDaniel's comment, the best guess here is that Huntley will be the starting quarterback for the Dolphins on Monday night.

The question now is when it will become official and whether there could be a surprise in store.