Let’s begin by establishing that the odds are against the Miami Dolphins signing Ryan Tannehill, even if Tua Tagovailoa is out for an extended period with yet another concussion.
It’s even more unlikely that they snatch Tom Brady from the broadcast booth.
But either scenario is not completely unthinkable.
That’s an indictment on the team’s process regarding their quarterback position dating back to February.
What Signing Tom Brady Would Say About Miami Dolphins
Tagovailoa getting hurt was the most foreseeable disaster possible when the Dolphins were making contingencies in 2024. Last year was the only one in which he didn’t miss multiple games due to injury since he was a sophomore at Alabama.
And yet, over the last six months, they gave Tagovailoa a contract with $167.2 million guaranteed before they had to, rolled with Mike White and Skylar Thompson as his backups when better options (like Jimmy Garoppolo) were available in free agency, and decided to save a net of $2.5 million by picking a shaky Thompson over White as their QB2.
Taken together, these moves signaled that the Dolphins either had minimal injury concerns about Tagovailoa and fully expected him to play all 17 games, or they believed Thompson would be good enough to keep them competitive if Tagovailoa had to miss extended time.
Signing Brady or Tannehill to save the season of a roster too talented to waste would be an acknowledgement by the Dolphins that they miscalculated.
Certainly, pride is not a reason to double down on a mistake. And if Mike McDaniel (or, perhaps more importantly, Stephen Ross) believes that Brady or Tannehill gives the Dolphins a real chance to compete when Tagovailoa is out, they should do it — regardless of the public reaction.
But Miami could never say with a straight face that this was the plan all along unless Tannehill or Brady had privately told them that they’d sign with the Dolphins — and only the Dolphins — in the case of an emergency.
It would instead be a case of bad process, good result.
Again, these are all hypotheticals at this point. Brady isn’t at Dolphins headquarters on Sunday taking a physical; he is in New Orleans calling the Dallas Cowboys vs. New Orleans Saints game for FOX.
Is Tom Brady an Option for the Dolphins?
Brady, now 47 and two years out of the league, would have to take a massive pay cut to return to football. Brady signed a 10-year, $375 million contract to be FOX’s lead analyst.
The cap-strapped Dolphins would pay him a fraction of that to play for them in 2024.
Also, his goal at this point in life is to be the one signing the checks, not cashing them. He’s tried to buy a portion of the Las Vegas Raiders for years, and the end is finally in sight, per NFL Media. The league-owned outlet reports that the league’s 32 owners are expected to vote on Brady’s bid by the end of the season.
That process would get delayed again should Brady decide to resume his career.
Plus, there are real concerns about whether Brady, at this point, has the chops to play in McDaniel’s system. It’s a hard one to learn even with an entire offseason of study; picking it up in a week or two is a pipe dream.
Brady and Tannehill are both out of the league for a reason. They were in noticeable decline during their final seasons in the league.
Brady’s QBR in 2022 had slipped to 54.6, his lowest mark since Pro Football Reference began tracking the statistic in 2006.
The Tennessee Titans benched Tannehill last year after he threw just two touchdown passes and six interceptions in his first six starts last year.
The fact that we’re discussing either shows how big the concerns are with Thompson under center for an extended period of time.
But one final point: Nothing is impossible when Ross is involved in the decision-making process. Ross loves stars (particularly Brady) and didn’t spend hundreds of millions of dollars for this roster to go 7-10 (or worse).