Thompson, Needham Now Officially Done

Practice squad contracts around the NFL expired Monday for players on the teams that failed to make the playoffs this season, which meant basically a departure from the Miami Dolphins for five players.

The name that jumped out was quarterback Skylar Thompson, whose much-discussed stint with the Dolphins apparently has run its course.

The other four players who officially became "street" free agents included six-year veteran defensive back Nik Needham and veteran wide receiver Isaiah McKenzie.

The other two were DT Shakel Brown and RB Deneric Prince.

All five players are free to sign with any team at any time, with no restriction and no compensation for the Dolphins.

THE THOMPSON EXPERIMENT OFFICIALLY OVER

Thompson's departure was coming all along, from the time he was bypassed by Tyler Huntley as the No. 2 quarterback after his forgettable start against the Seattle Seahawks in Week 3 and then his being waived in December before he was re-signed to the practice squad.

Thompson's performance at Seattle, and maybe in practice as well, was troublesome enough that even though he didn't play a full game against the Seahawks, that the Dolphins decided they had seen enough.

GM Chris Grier said in the end-of-season press conference that the Dolphins went into the season fully confident in Thompson, though it's crystal clear right now that the organization messed up in not securing a better backup option, especially considering Tua Tagovailoa's injury history.

And, yes, the offense is designed around what Tagovailoa does best and there's no way to build the timing required to make it work the same without the practice reps, but it still says here there should have been some level of functionality for the offense even with Tua on IR and not what looked like the worst offense in the NFL.

That's either on McDaniel from not making the necessary adjustments to fit his backups, but more so the failure of the organization to properly address the backup quarterback position in the offseason.

The Dolphins were content with running back with Thompson and Mike White, giving Thompson the No. 2 role after a summer when neither player looked particularly impressive.

In the meantime, several solid veteran options were available at the start of free agency, such as Joe Flacco, Marcus Mariota and Jimmy Garoppolo.

It will be incumbent upon the Dolphins to do better in this regard next offseason and secure a better backup for Tagovailoa.

NEW START FOR NEEDHAM

Needham once was a great success story for the Dolphins after making the 53-man roster as a rookie free agent after starting the 2019 season on the practice squad.

He started 27 games in his first four seasons with the Dolphins, and at the very least provided quality depth in the secondary.

But things changed after he sustained a torn Achilles tendon in the Week 6 loss against the Minnesota Vikings in the 2022 season. He spent the '23 season trying to work his way back from the injury and got little playing time, but then spent the entire 2024 season on the practice squad, appearing in two games as a PS elevation.

He figures to get a look from another team at some point, though it might not be quite as certain with Thompson.