Dolphins QB Situation Unsettled
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The Miami Dolphins have been forced to use three quarterbacks in their past two games, and there was little but question marks at the position the day after their Week 5 loss against the New York Jets.
The Dolphins next face the Minnesota Vikings next Sunday at Hard Rock Stadium and who ends up starting at quarterback was a pretty big mystery at the start of the week.
Tua Tagovailoa remains in the concussion protocol after his scary-looking injury in the Week 4 Thursday night game against the Cincinnati Bengals and Teddy Bridgewater also is in the protocol after being removed after the team's first offensive play in the 40-17 loss at MetLife Stadium by a spotter who determined he had seen instability after a hit from Jets rookie "Sauce Gardner" — the first application of the new ataxia provision of the concussion rules.
Rookie seventh-round pick Skylar Thompson played all but that one snap against the Jets, finished 19-for-33 for 166 yards with no touchdowns and one interception.
Head coach Mike McDaniel said Monday that Bridgewater had no concussion symptoms either the day of the game or the day after, but based on the protocol he won't be allowed to practice until Thursday — and even then it will be in a limited capacity.
Based on the visual evidence from the Jets game, it does appear that Bridgewater should physically be ready to go for the game against Minnesota, while Tagovailoa doesn't appear ready yet based on McDaniel's comments.
"Right now. I'm not even really thinking about his timeline," McDaniel said about Tagovailoa. "As I said before, we're just trying to get him as healthy as possible. We're pretty much in a 12-to-24-hour reoccurring evaluation process. And he's doing well. He's here today but he's not ready to take the step to do some football stuff yet. So that will be 'talk to me in every 12 to 24 hours.' "
As for the possibility of Bridgewater starting against the Vikings — the team that drafted him in the first round of the 2014 NFL draft — even if he has limited practice time, McDaniel wasn't ready to make that determination Monday.
"I would like to see when Teddy can practice, which is not up to necessarily us in general and then you know, once that happens, assess the situation, which is there's some compounding variables," McDaniel said. "The one thing I do know is that he will do everything it takes to prepare to play in a football game. I'm very comfortable with that.
"You just have to really do right by the football team and the player in terms of whether or not he feels comfortable to execute his responsibilities. That's too early. There's too many hypotheticals for me to even assess that. What I do know he's a pro. And if and when he's called upon, I know he's going to put his best foot forward for himself and his teammates."
There's been a lot of debate since the game as to whether Bridgewater was unfairly eliminated from the game as an overreaction to the injury that Tagovailoa sustained against the Buffalo Bills on Sept. 25, particularly when none of the videos that have surfaced show signs of "gross motor instability."
But McDaniel wasn't interested in second-guessing the decision that put Bridgewater out of action.
"I didn't see him stumble, but I'm also not really in the business of grading and coaching spotters," he said. "The rules are in place for player safety and I'm all about that. Honestly, so, whether he stumbled or not, the rules are the rules and my only takeaway from the whole process was really my personal relationship with Teddy. Teddy was very prepared to play that game. And he put a lot into it. And I was excited to see him play. And my heart hurt that he was unable to to execute something he was very prepared for and his teammates were excited to see him play."
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DOLPHINS ROSTER MOVES
-- The Dolphins made practice squad moves Monday, signing cornerback Tino Ellis and defensive tackle Jaylen Twyman and releasing defensive end Big Kat Bryant and cornerback Chris Steele.
Ellis spent most of training camp with Miami before he was waived/injured Aug. 16. He also spent time on Miami’s practice squad in 2020 and 2021. In the spring of 2022, Ellis played for the USFL’s Michigan Panthers, appearing in nine games and recording 35 tackles (26 solo) and one interception. He originally entered the NFL as an undrafted college free agent with New Orleans on April 29, 2020 following a collegiate career at Maryland.
Twyman originally entered the NFL as a sixth-round pick (199th overall) by Minnesota in the 2021 NFL draft. He missed the 2021 season on the non-football injury list and spent most of the 2022 season on Minnesota’s practice squad before being released Oct. 4. Twyman played collegiately at Pittsburgh, where he started all 13 games as a sophomore in 2019 and became the first interior lineman to lead Pitt in sacks (10.5) since Aaron Donald had 11.0 in 2013.
-- The Dolphins released linebacker Calvin Munson off injured reserve, making him eligible to sign with any team right now. He was put on IR with an undisclosed injury in late August.
-- Finally, former Dolphins QB Josh Rosen was released off the Cleveland Browns practice squad.
