Sept. 13 – Quarterback Skylar Thompson will be the starter for the Miami Dolphins as Tua Tagovailoa continues to deal with a recent injury, coach Mike McDaniels said Friday.
The Dolphins plan to bring in another quarterback to add depth after Tagovailoa was injured in Thursday night’s 31-10 home win over the Buffalo Bills. There are only two quarterbacks on the current 53-man roster and no quarterbacks on the practice squad.
“The team and the organization have total confidence in Skyler,” McDaniel said.
Tagovailoa exited the game in the third quarter after colliding with Bills defensive back Damar Hamlin. Thompson completed 8 of 14 passes for 80 yards, no touchdowns, no interceptions, and only 1 sack.
Thompson, 27, was drafted by the Miami Heat in the seventh round in 2022. This was his first appearance since a wild-card playoff loss to Buffalo on Jan. 15, 2023.
As a freshman in 2022, Thompson made two starts against the injured Tua Tagovailoa and completed 57.1 percent of his pass attempts for 534 yards, one touchdown and three picks.
“Who knows what’s going to happen next, but I’m confident,” Thompson said after Thursday’s game. “I feel like I’m ready for whatever comes next. I’m going to be ready, work hard and do my best to lead this team and do my job.”
Tagovailoa, 26, was treated for the injury on Sept. 22 as the Dolphins (1-1) began preparing for their Week 3 game at Seattle.
McDaniel said Friday that it was too early to speculate on Tagovailoa’s availability given that this was at least the third time he suffered a concussion as an NFL player when his head hit the ground.
“I don’t know, I’m not going to make a sudden decision if I’m not involved in the most important part,” McDaniels said, “What I’m telling Tua is everybody is counting on you to be a dad this weekend. And then we went from there. There was no talk about where we were going in this relationship… none of this would have happened if that wasn’t the case.
McDaniels said Tagovailoa will be evaluated at the team facility on Friday.
“We have to operate in uncharted territory and be prepared for every scenario,” McDaniel said.
“The best thing I can do is not try to assess what it means from a football perspective,” he said.
Tagovailoa appeared in all 17 games last season and led the NFL with 4,624 passing yards, but had three interceptions coming into Thursday’s game.
——Visual-level media
