Tyler Huntley Has Ended Miami’s Backup Conversation
Credit: Scott Galvin-Imagn Images
When the final whistle blew after the Miami Dolphins defeated the Cleveland Browns on the road on Sunday, it wasn’t just the game that ended. It was also the end of the Dolphins’ search for a legitimate backup to Tua Tagovailoa.
Huntley engineered a 20-3 win over the Browns and kept the Dolphins alive in the playoff hunt. He was extremely accurate, going 22-of-26 for 225 yards and a touchdown, and even added an 18-yard touchdown run. The Dolphins have not seen that kind of mobility from their quarterback since, well, ever.
Huntley did not throw an interception the entire game. In fact, we shouldn’t even count one of his incompletions, as it came when he intentionally spiked the football to stop the clock for Jason Sanders to kick a 39-yard field goal right before the half.
Chances are good that Huntley will get the start again in Sunday’s regular-season finale against the New York Jets at MetLife Stadium. A Dolphins win, coupled with a Denver Broncos loss to the Kansas City Chiefs, will propel the Dolphins into the playoffs for the third consecutive season under coach Mike McDaniel. McDaniel tipped his hand on Monday, revealing that he is preparing as though Huntley is going to be the starter again this Sunday.
“Today, I’m approaching it as though I think ‘Snoop’ is starting today,” McDaniel said. “And obviously, the team it’s very easy for us to adjust as the week progresses, but I think you have to approach it a certain way and then that’s an easy adjustment that we’re definitely open-minded to considering our timeline last week.”
Huntley is ready for the challenge.
“Man, just like every week, I’m just preparing to be starting or preparing to just get in whenever my number is called and just being ready when it’s time to be ready,” Huntley said on Wednesday. “I’ve been playing football since I was like four years old, three years old when I first picked up a football – you could fact-check that one with my mom. I don’t know, she tells me all the time. But I’ve been playing football for a long time, and at the end of the day, it’s football. Being able to just know what you’re doing, it gives you the confidence that you need.”
Huntley is confident in his abilities. He believes the Dolphins will emerge victorious on Sunday. After that, it is in Kansas City’s hands to take care of their business.
“Just being in the position that we’re in, if we just continue to win, we’re making that where we’re going,” Huntley said. “We’ve just got to continue to play how we’ve been playing the last couple of weeks, clean up the mistakes. I feel like a team can’t step on the field with us when we’re doing the right thing.”
Huntley knows a lot about the Dolphins. Miami was Huntley’s favorite team growing up in South Florida. He played high school football in Hallandale, which is about 20 minutes away from Hard Rock Stadium. This is the position he wants to be in.
He credits Tagovailoa for helping him succeed where former backups Skylar Thompson, Mike White, and Tim Boyle all failed before him. White was waived in training camp, while Boyle and Thompson have spent time on the active roster and the practice squad over this season, even seeing some action when Tagovailoa was in concussion protocol. Neither experience went well for the Dolphins, and that is what makes Huntley, whom they signed back in September, a breath of fresh air.
Huntley did get starts in place of Tua, and while it didn’t go particularly well, he was the new kid on the block and absorbing McDaniel’s system. After weeks of immersing himself within it and having Tagovailoa take him under his wing, Huntley feels much more confident with the offense, and that confidence showed on Sunday.
“[Tua’s] been amazing. Just being that he doesn’t know if he’s going or not, just being able to be out there with us, give us the tools that he has just [from] being in the offense for so long,” Huntley said. “His footwork is flawless and being able to see him do it just makes me fine-tune mine.”
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