Unless Skylar Thompson transforms into a modern-day Earl Morrall, what the Miami Dolphins are doing at quarterback is unsustainable.
Tua Tagovailoa cannot be the team’s one and only long-term plan at the position, not after a fourth concussion in five years makes every hit to the head a potential career-ender.
QB Options in NFL Draft for Miami Dolphins
That is why it’s imperative that the Dolphins select a quarterback with one of their five projected picks in the first two days of next April’s NFL Draft.
To be clear: We’re not saying the Dolphins should move on from Tagovailoa (even if they could, which they cannot without crippling their books).
But we are saying that it would be the height of irresponsibility not to have a viable Plan B — not just to get the Dolphins through the short term but also the long.
As we discuss in our latest PFN Miami Dolphins Podcast, the Dolphins have gone far too long without truly pursuing a developmental quarterback in the draft. The last time they selected a QB in anything other than the first or last rounds? 2009, when they took a gadget player in Pat White.
To their credit, it was the third straight year the Dolphins selected a quarterback in the second round.
They need to revisit that strategy pronto.
While it’s understandable that Miami in recent years might have thought that taking a quarterback relatively early would undermine its message that Tua is their guy. Drafting one last spring with Tagovailoa coming off a Pro Bowl season and in the thick of a contract negotiation would have been messy, for sure.
But the facts have since changed. This summer, the Dolphins made Tagovailoa the highest-paid player in franchise history. They did right by him.
And even he would understand if the Dolphins hedge at quarterback now. Tua’s happiness and security are not their only consideration.
There are 68 other players on the team (including practice squad) that have a ton at stake this year. That’ll be the case next year as well.
It would be wildly unfair to them to waste their prime football seasons on another Tagovailoa injury.
So how good is this year’s quarterback class? Not as good as in years past, but certainly full of talents that would make sense on Day 2.
Penn State’s Drew Allar, Ole Miss’ Jaxson Dart, Texas’ Quinn Ewers, and Miami’s Cam Ward are all names Dolphins fans should get to know, if they haven’t already.