From Beck to Brady: Trying to Predict Where Dolphins QB Kyle McCord's Debut Will Fall

Not sure if you've heard, but first-year quarterback Kyle McCord will make his NFL debut for the Miami Dolphins against the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday.

Of course you knew that, it's been the topic of conversation since the Dolphins placed starter Malik Willis on injured reserve Tuesday with what now is being described as a core muscle injury.

The Dolphins offense struggled for most of the first eight games of the season because of a wide variety of issues and the question is whether McCord can bring some life to it.

This is an exciting time for some fans quick with an evaluation that Willis simply isn't the long-term answer at quarterback for the Dolphins based mostly on the results and what they've seen as Willis' hesitation in the pocket and too-slow decision-making.

It's been a saying for a long time that the backup quarterback often is the most popular player on the team if you don't have a star at the position because the unknown brings hope of something better.

But, of course, the grass isn't always greener ... and if the backup was better than the starter, then maybe he wouldn't be the backup.

That brings us to McCord, who is an unknown as a quarterback can be because he's never played a down in the NFL. Yes, he looked good in Green Bay's preseason finale against Arizona this summer, but that was the preseason and that's nothing like a regular season game because defensive coaches keep things very simple for those games and pull out all the stops for games that count.

McCord is a different type of quarterback than Willis, and maybe he'll be quicker with his decisions and let it rip more freely, and maybe that produces more completions but maybe that also produces more throws into traffic with a bad outcome and maybe an interception or two more.

Head coach Jeff Hafley said he would encourage McCord to be aggressive, but any rookie making his first start is bound to have some hesitation. That's just natural.

The bigger issue for McCord is that the Dolphins supporting cast, which everyone can acknowledge is sub-par, didn't get any better over the past week. On the contrary, McCord now will have to play without starting center Aaron Brewer and rookie wide receiver Chris Bell.

FROM BECK TO BRADY OR BROCK

So what do the Dolphins have in Kyle McCord? And what might it first NFL look like?

For some fans, the idea is that maybe he becomes for the Dolphins what Brock Purdy became for the San Francisco 49ers after taking over for the injured Jimmy Garoppolo late in his rookie season — against the Dolphins no less.

We also saw — pretty sure we saw — a reference to another former sixth-round pick taking over for an injured starter in his second season and never let go of the job. You know, Tom Brady?

The other end, of course, is McCord turning into former Dolphins second-round pick John Beck, who flamed out after getting his first NFL start in October 2007.

Beck was a poor 9-for-22 for 106 yards in his first NFL start in a 17-7 loss against the Eagles.

Even Brady's first start was pretty mundane in terms of stat, as he went 13-for-23 for 168 yards with no touchdowns or picks, though it did come in a 44-13 Patriots win against Peyton Manning and the Colts when the defense dominated.

We certainly have no reason to expect that kind of dominance from the Dolphins against the Colts today, even if Peyton Manning isn't playing anymore.

We would suspect, however, that McCord's stat line will look more like that of Brady than that of Beck.

It's a guess as to what McCord actually will look like again because judging his work at Ohio State and Syracuse and in the preseason — his stats were uninspiring last year with Philadelphia and this year with Green Bay before that finale — though he does look the part.

A best guess from here in terms of what his stats will look like would be something like 15-for-27 for 189 yards with one touchdown and one pick.

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