The Miami Dolphins are 5-7, and while their playoff chances look grim, the team is in a much better spot than it was at the beginning of the season. The Dolphins have a healthy Tua Tagovailoa back in the lineup, and it's made a massive difference in getting this team to its 5-7 record.
Teams need to have the right backup quarterback in case their starter goes down, and Mike McDaniel has finally made the right decision when it comes to the QB2 spot on the Dolphins' roster.
Tyler Huntley will back up Tua this weekend when the Dolphins face the three-win New York Jets, and that will hopefully be the end of what felt like the never-ending experiment with Skylar Thompson.
The Dolphins spent a seventh-round pick on Thompson in the 2022 draft, and fans were hoping that the Kansas State product would be a feel-good story when both Tua and Teddy Bridgewater went down in 2022. Thompson ended up starting the Dolphins' playoff game that season and it did not go well.
The team has continued to stick with him as the backup, even keeping him over the former Jets backup Mike White before the season began. When Thompson had to step in for Tua this season, he didn't play well, throwing for 187 yards with zero touchdowns and zero interceptions.
Dolphins look to finally be moving on from Skylar Thompson
Some might point out that Huntley hasn't been lighting up the score sheet either, but his numbers are better than Thompson's, and he's proven in the past that he can be a solid backup. This is the right move for the Dolphins.
Unfortunately, it might not matter in the grand scheme of things. While the Dolphins have a favorable schedule moving forward, they have a lot of ground to make up in the AFC wild-card race. Not only would the Dolphins need to win out so that they could finish at 10-7, but the Broncos would need to lose at least three games to avoid any tiebreaker scenarios.
Hopefully, the Dolphins have learned from this season and try to add a more experienced backup in 2025 so that if Tua goes down, it doesn't completely wreck their season again. For now, though, Huntley will be the guy to step in if Tua has to miss any snaps, and hopefully, we don't see Thompson out there in a meaningful game again.