Miami Shouldn’t Settle For It’s Current Backup QB Situation
Credit: Lon Horwedel-USA TODAY Sports
One of the key storylines throughout training camp and the preseason has been the backup quarterback battle. As of right now, the Dolphins unofficial depth chart lists Mike White as the backup signal caller, with Skylar Thompson serving as Miami’s third option at quarterback. However, neither signal-caller has looked particularly impressive thus far.
White went 4-for-14 for 26 yards and ended his preseason outing against the Atlanta Falcons with a 39.6 passer rating. Thompson would up out-performing white… technically. He finished the game with 95 yards, one touchdown, one interception, and a passer rating of 53.6. The fact that the Dolphins gave Thomspon the entire first half to start tells me that they want him to overtake White on the depth chart.
But what if Thompson continually fails to impress? Should the Dolphins still bet on Thompson’s potential as a second-year quarterback and allow him to win the backup job? Or would they hope White figures things out, perhaps starting with one successful checkdown pass? Either way, they’d essentially be allowing one of those guys to win the backup job by default, not because they earned it through respectable play. But there’s a third option: making an aggressive move for a more qualified backup quarterback.
Adding another quarterback is much easier said than done this close to the start of the regular season. Besides, most of the viable backup quarterbacks available on the trade market have no experience playing for Mike McDaniel. Simply put, Mike White and Skylar Thompson provide a level of continuity that other quarterbacks cannot offer. Both players have been here for the duration of the offseason program, and it may cause more harm than good to shake up the quarterback room this late in the game. McDaniel may still be hopeful that more time will bring continued progress for both players.
At the same time, you don’t want one subpar quarterback winning the backup job simply because they were “less bad” than the alternative. In 2022, Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell faced a similar issue with Mannion and Mond. Both massively underperformed relative to expectations, and fans were stuck hoping that a raw quarterback with alleged upside in Mond could beat out an aging Mannion, whose best attribute was being a great sounding board for Kirk Cousins in the locker room.
O’Connell ended up making a bold decision, trading with the Las Vegas Raiders to secure journeyman QB Nick Mullens during the preseason. Mullens ended up being a much better fit for KOC’s offense than Mannion or Mond and won the backup job despite not being a member of the team for most of the offseason program. O’Connell didn’t want a player winning the backup quarterback job simply because he wasn’t as bad as the alternative. Bringing in Mullens for competition worked out well.
Fast forward two years later, and the Vikings are suddenly in a position to trade Mullens. The team has full confidence in Sam Darnold as the starting option, and they drafted QB Jaren Hall in the fifth round of last year’s draft, who they really like as a developmental guy. Minnesota is also scouring the free agent market for depth options at quarterback, and they are severely lacking in 2025 draft capital. Those factors make a perfect storm for the Dolphins to be aggressive in finding a competent backup quarterback, and Mullens would be a great fit for Miami.
Mullens proved especially useful in 2023 following Cousins’ Achilles injury. Mullens averaged 261 passing yards per game in five games for the Vikings. The risk with Mullens is that his history is that of a turnover-prone gunslinger. He’s the type who can lead an 80-yard drive that ends in a red zone interception. So, Mullens isn’t exactly the ideal backup quarterback.
That being said, Mullens does have experience playing under Kyle Shanahan and Mike McDaniel during his time with the San Francisco 49ers. Also playing Devil’s Advocate for Mullens, the Vikings run game last season was atrocious. Starter (by default) Alexander Mattison failed to score a single rushing touchdown throughout the entire year. That wouldn’t be the case in Miami, where Mullens would have a three-headed dragon at his disposal in Raheem Mostert, De’Von Achane, and Jaylen Wright.
Although McDaniel is still hoping that either White or Thompson play better these next two preseason games, hope isn’t necessarily a good strategy. If McDaniel is still presented with two undesirable options at backup quarterback, he should take a page out of fellow third year head coach O’Connell’s playbook by trading for Mullens late in the preseason to bolster the Dolphins backup quarterback position.
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