Miami Dolphins need a strong backup to Tua Tagovailoa

The Miami Dolphins will enter an interesting off-season with Tua Tagovailoa. He will be back in 2023 but who will be behind him?

One. Four. Five.

Those represent the number of games that quarterback Tua Tagovailoa has missed, by season, since becoming the teams starting signal-caller in 2020.

After the 2022 season, a season in which Tua answered so many questions and established himself as a high-end starter in the NFL, one question remains – can he stay healthy?

Since none of us can predict the future, I thought it would be an interesting exercise to examine some options the Miami Dolphins could explore this offseason in order to ensure they have an insurance policy for their starting quarterback. That’s right, we’re talking about (almost) every fanbase’s favorite player at times – the backup quarterback. (I can still hear the chants for Matt Moore…)

To do this, I’m going to take a look at some free agent and draft options the team could explore through a few different lenses.

1. A seasoned veteran that could prove to be a modest spot starter.
2. Young borderline starter with something to prove and a chance to do so.
3. Mid-late round rookie quarterback.

I’ll be using names I gather from to Spotrac using their list of expiring contracts at the quarterback position so feel free to refer to that tool if you have suggestions you’d like to leave in the comments.

Now, without further adiue, let’s dive in.

Seasoned veteran that could prove to be a modest spot starter.

The most obvious path, and the one the Miami Dolphins have leaned on since 2019, is to go the path of the seasoned veteran as their backup quarterback.

In 2020 we saw 38-year-old Ryan Fitzpatrick, in 2021 brought us 29-year-old Jacoby Brissett and in 2022 included 30-year-old Teddy Bridgewater. With the exception of some Ryan Fitzmagic-al moments, none of these quarterbacks were expected to push Tua for starting reps – and none did. Additionally, each was clearly brought in to provide a solid hand at the position should they be called upon and a strong mind to the quarterback room.

Needless to say, Chris Grier might have a type when it comes to backup quarterbacks.

So if the Dolphins choose to go this route again, who might be on deck? Here are a few options that are set to be free agents:

• Nick Mullens, 27, Minnesota Vikings (played in San Francisco w/ McDaniel)
  • Career: 5-12 record, 65.3% completion, 27 touchdowns, 23 interceptions, and 5085 yards passing. Good for a QB rating of 88.0.
• Cooper Rush, 29, Dallas Cowboys
  • Career: 5-1 record, 59% completion, 8 touchdowns, 4 interceptions, and 1475 yards passing. Good for a QB rating of 84.9.
• Jimmy Garrapolo, 31, San Francisco 49ers (played in San Francisco w/ McDaniel)
  • Career: 40-17 record, 67.6% completion, 87 touchdowns, 42 interceptions, and 14289 yards passing. Good for a QB rating of 99.6
• Other options include Matt Ryan (pending release), C.J. Beathard, and Andy Dalton.

Obviously, the most intriguing name on that list is Jimmy G. He played for Mike McDaniel, yes, but he also had success with him, too. A lot of success. The downside? One slip-up by Tua and many fans will be clamoring for the backup. There’s risk there – does Grier mind that?

Young borderline starter with something to prove and a chance to do so.

One thing that fans and the media alike often called for during the Ryan Tannehill era of Miami Dolphins football was for the Dolphins to bring in a guy who was young, had something to prove, and could push the starter to perform at an even higher level.

To this point, the Miami Dolphins haven’t gone this route recently outside of Brock Osweiler in 2018 (I know) and with Grier at the helm they haven’t done it at all. Maybe they should.

If they do, here are a few free-agent options that could be appealing to the team even if I personally wouldn’t advocate for most of them.

• Baker Mayfield, 27, Los Angeles Rams
  • Career: 31-38 record, 61.4% completion, 102 touchdowns, 64 interceptions, and 16288 yards passing. Good for a QB rating of 86.5.
• Gardner Minshew, 26, Philadelphia Eagles
  • Career: 8-16 record, 62.8% completion, 44 touchdowns, 15 interceptions, and 6632 yards passing. Good for a QB rating of 93.1.
• Sam Darnold, 25, Carolina Panthers
  • Career: 21-34 record, 59.7% completion, 61 touchdowns, 51 interceptions, and 11767 yards passing. Good for a QB rating of 78.2.
• Other options include: Drew Lock, Mike White, and Jarrett Stidham

I know what you’re thinking – under no circumstances should Mayfield or Darnold happen. I get it. But you can’t tell me that you, too, can’t imagine fans clamoring for Gardner Phinshew.

Gardner is likely to get paid this offseason, whether be as a starter or as a backup, and he could very well be a viable option for Miami should they decide to go this route.

Mid-late round rookie quarterback.

I’m not going to pretend to be an expert yet on this year’s rookie class but that won’t stop me from throwing this out as a potential solution for at backup quarterback.

Here are a few recent examples where drafting a mid-late round rookie to back up their starter worked out in favor of the team.

• Kirk Cousins, 4th round, 2012 draft
• Nick Foles, 3rd round, 2012 draft
• Dak Prescott, 4th round, 2016 draft
• Tyrod Taylor, 6th round 2011 draft
• Trevor Siemian, 7th round 2015 draft
• Brock Purdy, 7th round 2022 draft

The reality is, the hit rate of mid-late round quarterbacks as starting quarterbacks is slim but that doesn’t stop many teams from finding diamonds in the rough to be long-term backups. Some even fall back into starters (ie. Kirk and Dak). We also already have Skylar Thompson, though to this point I think we have more questions than answers.

Our future rests with Tua

In the end, no matter where we go at the backup quarterback position this offseason, our future success rests on the shoulders of our starting quarterback Tua Tagovailoa.

Remember, Tua lead the league this season in passer rating, yards per pass attempt, yards per completion, and passing touchdown percentage (tied with Mahomes).

However, if history repeats itself and Tua misses games – and for the record, I absolutely hope it doesn’t both for the human and for the team – the Dolphins have to be prepared.

Now imagine your Chris Grier – what direction are you going at backup quarterback this offseason?