Dolphins reinstall Zach Wilson as QB2

Tua Tagovailoa‘s performance has been a bigger issue than usual health concerns this season, as the Dolphins are 2-6 and headed toward the trade deadline as a potential seller. The team’s standing has naturally invited speculation about Mike McDaniel and Chris Grier‘s Miami futures.

Fortunately for the team, Tagovailoa has stayed healthy this season. Concussion concerns engulfed the quarterback (and the Dolphins as a whole) in 2022 and ’24, and another hip injury cropped up at the end of last season. Tua’s health history made the Dolphins’ QB2 role rather important, highlighting a curious choice Grier and McDaniel made in the offseason.

On Day 1 of the legal tampering period, Miami signed Zach Wilson to a fully guaranteed one-year, $6MM deal. This came after the Broncos buried the former No. 2 overall pick as their third-stringer throughout the 2024 season. Wilson faceplanted as the Jets’ starter, being benched three times from 2022-23. Wilson also lost his Dolphins backup job to rookie Quinn Ewers last week.

Heading into tonight’s game, however, NFL.com’s Cameron Wolfe notes Wilson will be the Dolphins’ top backup once again. An ongoing practice competition led McDaniel to demote Wilson previously for Ewers, but the team has flipflopped on that change ahead of Week 9. Though, Wolfe does not make it sound like Ewers will not have another chance to climb the depth chart this season.

Wilson has yoyoed around depth charts since a November 2022 Jets benching. He has started, dropped to third string, climbed back to the QB2 level, started for the Jets again and spent a full season back at QB3 in Denver. The Broncos viewed Jarrett Stidham as a better backup for Bo Nix last season, after Wilson had participated in a three-man starter competition. Denver re-signed Stidham (two years, $12MM) shortly before free agency, leading Wilson elsewhere. Wilson has completed 6 of 9 passes in reserve duty this season.

Considering the consequences the Jets faced for not backstopping Aaron Rodgers with a more reliable option in 2023, the Dolphins showing faith in Wilson behind one of the league’s most injury-prone QBs injected considerable risk into the equation. But the Wilson signing — for more guaranteed money than fellow 2021 first-rounders Mac Jones or Trey Lance received in free agency — showed the former top prospect still has believers around the league. That makes Ewers’ short-lived ascent more interesting, even though McDaniel said part of the reason the rookie usurped Wilson was opponent-driven. Wilson losing his job for any reason is obviously notable given his career trajectory.

Arch Manning‘s Texas predecessor was viewed as a candidate to go as high as Day 2, but he tumbled to Round 7. The three-year Longhorns starter who twice quarterbacked his team into the CFP semifinals, Ewers received his first NFL game work in Week 7. He went 5-for-8 in the Dolphins’ loss to the Browns. With Ewers profiling as a potential long-term Tagovailoa backup, it proved notable he was given an early chance to overtake Wilson — rather than learn in a true redshirt year. It will be interesting to see if the Dolphins make another switch, which would drop Wilson’s stock further ahead of another free agency try for the BYU product.