The curious decision to start Skylar Thompson: McDaniel rookie mistake?

The Miami Dolphins will limp into Hard Rock Stadium today with a slew of injuries but the biggest question is Skylar Thompson starting the game. Is this a Mike McDaniel rookie mistake or another genius move by the first-time head coach?

Thompson has had a full week of work. Teddy Bridgewater has not. Tua Tagovailoa has not. Both Bridgewater and Tagovailoa have been cleared from the concussion protocols and because of that both players should be able to play on Sunday.

We know that Tagovailoa will remain out this week with a return likely to be the Steelers next weekend but why Thompson over Teddy? Why is Mike McDaniel putting his team on the arm, legs, and shoulder of a 7th-round draft pick? There could be a lot of reasons.

First

The easiest answer is that Thompson has put the work in and the game plan has been adjusted to fit what he does best by implementing that plan into this week, it makes more sense for the Dolphins to stick with it.

Teddy and Tua both took practice reps this week but neither was cleared until Saturday and by then it was too late to get them full reps. That is the line we should be thinking along but is that really why he is starting?

Second

If Aaron Rodgers, Tom Brady, or Patrick Mahomes missed practice all week with a concussion or any other injury and then they have cleared ahead of a game, is there any doubt that they would be benched in favor of a rookie that is not considered the future of the franchise? No, they likely would play.

So why is Teddy  Bridgewater or Tua not playing? 

Tua hasn’t had a full practice since before the Bengal’s Thursday night game. That is a big thing and he needs to get mentally ready to play.

Letting Tua get one more weekend of rest for his ankle and back isn’t a bad thing, especially considering he hasn’t practiced.

Tua could use the extra week to get back in the flow but Teddy didn’t suffer a concussion as we all know now. So why is he not playing over Thompson? Should we be worried about that?

It is possible that McDaniel doesn’t feel comfortable starting a quarterback without practice reps. Maybe that is his coaching style and something that he is putting out there now or as we said earlier, the plan was built for Thompson.

Three

Teddy Bridgewater not starting is interesting. McDaniel told the media that he was impressed with Teddy Bridgewater and there was a reason they signed him but he also said they were high on Thompson as well.

Bridgewater should be ready to go even with one day of practice or even none at all. Everyone knows the concussion was a scam and he is fully cleared. Does McDaniel have more confidence in Thompson?

Maybe. Despite the naysayers pouring out their expert advice on how bad Thompson played last week, he actually played better than expected given the fact he had few practice reps in the week leading up, wasn’t expected to play, and had an offensive line that lost Greg Little and Terron Armstead but not Liam Eichenberg.

Thompson was under pressure the entire game and still made plays. He was saddled with a few dropped passes but he showed poise.

We know that Thompson had a solid pre-season but is there something else that we haven’t seen that McDaniel has? It’s not like Bridgewater has looked good, in fact, you could say that he has played like he doesn’t care.

I haven’t seen any leadership from Bridgewater in his small sample of opportunities but against the Bengals, he didn’t really look like someone the team could rally around.

We can say that the offense moved faster or looked faster with Thompson. Can’t say that about the offense when Bridgewater was under center.

Four

One final thought is that McDaniel may want to get a better look at Thompson now early in the season when he has a non-conference game he can afford to lose. By putting Thompson in, he is getting experience and that experience might be needed later in the season.

Since all of this is conjecture, we can wonder if maybe, McDaniel is trying to plan for the future should Tua take another hit and suffer a concussion or if he loses Teddy Bridgewater later in the year. At some point, McDaniel may have to ride his season on the shoulders of Thompson and it is best to get him real game experience.

I would suspect that Thompson is on a leash today and if he struggles, Bridgewater will take over and that might give McDaniel enough to know what he will and will not have later in the year should he need it.