Dolphins plan to start rookie third-string QB against Vikings
MIAMI -- With his top two quarterbacks waylaid by the NFL's concussion protocols, Miami Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel plans to start rookie third-stringer Skylar Thompson against the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday.
Starting QB Tua Tagovailoa has been out of action since a scary hit in a loss to the Cincinnati Bengals last month. Just four days before that, he hit his head on the turf after a shove by Buffalo Bills linebacker Matt Milano. Tagovailoa stumbled as he got up and was taken out of the game for evaluation, but was allowed to return to the field.
Tagovailoa's injury prompted a reexamination and adjustment of the NFL's concussion protocols. He returned to the practice field on Wednesday.
"I don't see him being active and I do not plan to have him play at all," McDaniel said Wednesday. "This whole process is a little tricky and today he's just getting back to playing football for the first time in two weeks."
Dolphins backup QB Teddy Bridgewater, a former Viking, started Sunday's game against the Jets, but was pulled after just one play when he hit his head on the turf as cornerback Sauce Gardner tackled him in the end zone. McDaniel has said Bridgewater did not display concussion symptoms after the game, but he still must clear the protocol under the revised rules.
"[Bridgewater] feels good," McDaniel said Wednesday. "The soreness on his pec is getting better but in this stage of the protocol he is unable to do anything football related with his team."
McDaniel said even if Bridgewater clears the protocol before Sunday's game, his lack of practice this week means the Dolphins will be "moving forward with planning on starting Skylar Thompson." Bridgewater is expected to clear the protocol, McDaniel said, and he will back up Thompson if he does.
Thompson, a seventh round pick in April out of Kansas State, relieved Bridgewater in the Jets game. In his first NFL regular season action, he went 19/33 for 166 yards and an interception. The Dolphins lost 40-17.
McDaniel called Thompson "a pretty darn good decision maker" and "not the run-of-the-mill rookie."
"I wouldn't [start Thompson] if I didn't think the team would agree in terms of their confidence for him," McDaniel said. "It wasn't that difficult of a decision for me to make in this set of circumstances."