Miami Dolphins confirm Ryan Fitzpatrick will remain starter in Week 5

Miami Dolphins confirm Ryan Fitzpatrick will remain starter in Week 5

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The Miami Dolphins appeared to momentarily open the door for quarterback Tua Tagovailoa to enter Week 5 as their starting quarterback amid a quote from head coach Brian Flores during yesterday’s press availability. The statement, which was prompted by a question directly about the starting quarterback role, raised some eyebrows with the phrasing of Coach Flores.

“Look, I understand where everybody’s coming from with Tua (Tagovailoa). I get all that. At the same time, he’s a young player, he’s coming off the injury. So we’ll make the decision on the starter, but I would presume it’s going to be Fitzpatrick,” said Flores.

Presume.

An interesting choice of words. Flores would go on to clarify that the team is assessing every position on the roster this week now that the team has reached the quarter-season mark — and that their reevaluation wasn’t limited to just the starting quarterback but to every position on the team. And now, we know the decision that the staff has made regarding evaluating the quarterback play in Miami. The team has announced this morning that Ryan Fitzpatrick will indeed remain the starter for Miami against the San Francisco 49ers.

This decision will surely create its fair share out public outcry — but the court of public opinion hasn’t been one that Coach Flores or the Dolphins have put much stock into since this regime took over in January of 2019. The critics will surely point to Fitzpatrick’s underwhelming statistics in several key areas — and the team has a point. But if Tagovailoa cannot be properly briefed and prepped and ready to take on the starting role in a timeframe that gives Miami the best chance to win on Sunday against San Francisco (at least in the mind of Flores), then the Dolphins are justified to stay in the status quo.

But at the very least, Miami should begin changing their process of practice reps to get Tagovailoa more involved so that this process can become easier. That is, of course, assuming they haven’t already and we just don’t know it.

Stay patient, Dolphins fans. This transition is coming. It just won’t come in Week 5.