The Overlooked Factor in the Miami Dolphins Backup QB Issues

The Miami Dolphins dropped the ball when it comes to finding a quality backup quarterback.

The Miami Dolphins can't win if Tua Tagovailoa isn't in the lineup.

We've heard all those comments or variations thereof since Tagovailoa's career took off with the arrival of Mike McDaniel as Dolphins head coach in 2022 and the team's won-loss record would seem to support all of it.

After all, the Dolphins indeed are 3-7 in the 10 regular season games that Tagovailoa didn't start over the past three seasons, specifically 1-3 in 2022 and 2-4 last season.

And while we've made the point there were other factors at play — Terron Armstead missing those four games in 2022, lack of takeaways on defense — there's no doubt that sub-par quarterback play doomed the Dolphins in those Tua-less games.

But there's another important factor that for some reason always gets left out.

Backup quarterback injuries.

Yeah, turns out it's not just with Tagovailoa that the Dolphins have had a quarterback injury issue.

THE DOLPHINS AND BACKUP QB INJURIES

The numbers actually are startling.

Let's start with this one: In games that Tua has missed entirely over the past three seasons and the Dolphins have played with one quarterback, they actually have a winning record, 3-2 to be precise.

Those games would be wins against the New York Jets in 2022 with Skylar Thompson going all the way, and with Tyler Huntley against the New England Patriots and Cleveland Browns last season, along with losses against the Tennessee Titans and Jets last season with Huntley.

On the other hand, the Dolphins are 0-5 in games where Tua missed the start because of an injury and there was an in-game change related to a quarterback injury.

In the very first no-Tua game in 2022, we all remember Teddy Bridgewater being pulled by the concussion spotter after just one play, forcing Thompson into the game against the Jets.

The next week, Thompson started against the Minnesota Vikings, but he left in the second quarter because of a hand injury.

Then in Week 17 that year, Bridgewater left his start against the New England Patriots after throwing a pick-six in the third quarter and was replaced again by Thompson.

Jump to 2024, and Thompson's start against the Seattle Seahawks, which ended after he sustained a rib injury and had to be replaced by Tim Boyle.

Three games later, Huntley left his third start against the Indianapolis Colts with a shoulder injury and had to be replaced by Tim Boyle.

Bridgewater's performance as the backup in 2022 wasn't bad at all, it's just that he couldn't stay healthy, failing to last past the third quarter in either of his starts.

With the other backup quarterbacks — Boyle, Thompson and Huntley — performance was an issue along with durability.

ZACH WILSON'S NFL INJURY HISTORY

Enter Zach Wilson, whose biggest challenge just might be being able to stay healthy if he does have to repalce Tagovailoa at any point in 2025.

OK, maybe that's a stretch, but the importance of avoiding injuries can't be overstated because the Dolphins clearly have been hurt by not just having to go to their backup quarterbacks in recent years but often their third-stringers.

And that's before mentioning the impact of an in-game QB change where the backup has to come in cold after getting few (sometimes no) meaningful practice snaps.

This is where we have to look at Wilson's injury history, and it's not totally clean.

He wasn't injured last year, which is to be expected considering he didn't play a regular season snap for the Denver Broncos.

But he missed four games in his rookie season with the Jets in 2021 with a knee injury, missed the first three games of the 2022 season after a preseason knee injury, and then missed the end of the 2023 season after he sustained a concussion against the Dolphins in a December game at Hard Rock Stadium.

So, yeah, this isn't necessarily ideal because it has been proven that having a fragile backup QB (like Bridgewater was) behind a fragile starting QB (like Tua is) can be a recipe for disaster for the Dolphins.

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