MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — Did Skylar Thompson just win the Miami Dolphins‘ QB2 job?
The “neck-and-neck” battle — as Mike McDaniel put it recently — between Thompson and Mike White went down to the wire, and if the team engages in any bit of recency bias, Thompson should be the guy.
He outplayed White during Friday night’s preseason finale against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Miami Dolphins Near QB2 Decision
White — who was Tua Tagovailoa’s primary backup all last year — had his third straight poor performance in as many exhibition games. He completed just five of nine passes for 37 yards.
And this time, there were no excuses.
Sure, the talent around him wasn’t great — the Dolphins sat basically every starter Friday — but it was no better for Thompson, who had the best game of any Dolphins quarterback this preseason.
Thompson on Friday completed 19 of 27 passing attempts for 190 yards and two touchdowns. Thompson did force a late interception, but it came when the Dolphins were in a must-pass situation down two scores.
Overall, the difference between the two players was stark.
In four drives with White in the game, the Dolphins managed just two first downs — and one of them came on a 40-yard reverse by wide receiver Malik Washington. The Dolphins managed just 27 yards on their 15 other plays with White on the field.
But when Thompson entered, the offense immediately came to life. He directed a seven-play, 70-yard touchdown drive on his first possession of the game, capped by a 20-yard scoring strike to Hayden Rucci.
“I feel like I [didn’t leave anything] on the table and I have no regrets,” Thompson said postgame.
The Dolphins seem likely to keep (at most) one of White and Thompson on their 53-man roster, and going with Thompson over White would save the Dolphins roughly $2.5 million against the cap.
Dolphins’ Summer From Hell
The Dolphins have already placed four players on injured reserve in the last month and could put a surprising number more on that list with roster cuts coming next week.
Their list of concerns grew Friday when both offensive tackle Ryan Hayes and defensive tackle Brandon Pili both left the game due to injury and did not return.
Both were likely on the right side of the roster bubble before getting hurt, and Pili was probably going to be the team’s starting Week 1 nose tackle if Benito Jones isn’t back from whatever he’s dealing with by the opener.
Those injuries make the team’s decision to cut Teair Tart last week all the more peculiar. Tart wasn’t a scheme fit, McDaniel told reporters, but it’s hard to see how anyone they can sign, claim, or trade for in the coming days would be markedly better.
Closing Arguments
Washington tops the list of Dolphins players who helped themselves Friday.
If there was any doubt about his job status before Friday’s game, he erased it with 47 yards from scrimmage and another 73 on special teams.
The Dolphins also got a great preseason out of linebacker Channing Tindall, who made an impact play in every game this August.
Running back Jaylen Wright has been good all summer and closed out his rookie preseason with another 77 yards of offense.
Credit Jack Driscoll for being willing to bounce out to tackle in a pinch, but he got overwhelmed by Vita Vea on a failed 3rd-and-short run early in the game. Patrick Paul, Andrew Meyer, and Chasen Hines all had rough moments in the trenches as well.