Tag: Skylar Thompson

Dolphins bring back veteran QB on practice squad along with WR

The Dolphins added two players to the practice squad Tuesday, including a familiar face.

Skylar Thompson’s time with the Miami Dolphins isn’t over. The team signed the third-year quarterback to the practice squad Tuesday and added veteran wide receiver Isaiah McKenzie, as well.

The Dolphins began the year with Thompson as the their primary backup for Tua Tagovailoa and were forced to start the 2022 seventh-round pick after Tagovailoa suffered a concussion in Week 2. But Thompson’s time in the starting lineup was brief, as he suffered a rib injury during a rough Week 3 performance against the Seattle Seahawks.

In his absence, the team turned to Tyler Huntley who has since supplanted Thompson as Tagovailoa’s backup.

McKenzie, 29, began his career with the Denver Broncos, before later spending four and a half seasons with the Buffalo Bills. Most recently, he spent 2023 with the Indianapolis Colts and the 2024 offseason with the New York Giants.

In 93 career games, McKenzie has 152 receptions for 1,427 yards and 11 touchdowns along with four rushing touchdowns and one punt return touchdown.

[lawrence-auto-related count=3]

Dolphins waive QB Skylar Thompson, add DT and WR to roster

The Dolphins are sticking with Tyler Huntley as their backup quarterback.

The Miami Dolphins waived quarterback Skylar Thompson on Saturday, the team announced.

That transaction, along with the decision to part with wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr., opened two spots on the active roster. The team filled those spots by signing defensive tackle Matt Dickerson from the practice squad and activating wide receiver Grant DuBose from the injured reserve.

Thompson’s spot on the 53-man roster looked tenuous, at best, when Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel announced earlier this month that Tyler Huntley would take over as the No. 2 passer on the depth chart. With both Tua Tagovailoa and Huntley healthy, there’s little reason for the team to keep its 2022 seventh-round pick available on Sundays.

In three seasons with the team, Thompson has appeared in 10 games and has 721 passing yards, one touchdown, and three interceptions.

Dickerson, a former member of the Titans, Falcons, and Chiefs, joined the Dolphins’ practice squad in October.

DuBose was claimed off waivers in August after he didn’t make the Green Bay Packers’ final roster. In Week 2, DuBose caught one pass for 13 yards but landed on injured reserve in September with a shoulder injury.

[lawrence-auto-related count=3]

Tyreek Hill’s cryptic post may just be a Skylar Thompson joke

Don’t count on Tyreek Hill retiring anytime soon.

Tyreek Hill loves to troll on social media. So even though the cryptic message he posted Wednesday on the website formerly known as Twitter would raise alarm if another star athlete sent it, most Miami Dolphins fans know better than to take the receiver at face value.

Along with a photo of himself walking out of the tunnel Thursday night for a game against the Green Bay Packers, Hill wrote “love what you do cause it will soon end” complete with a heart emoji at the end.

So is Hill retiring? Don’t count on it.

Hill, 30, previously talked about walking away after the 2025 season, but later walked it back and agreed to an extension in August. So there’s no reason to believe he’s nearing the end of his career in Miami.

Instead, it’s the other player in the photo that could be done with the Dolphins. And that’s probably the joke.

Earlier this week, Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel told reporters that Tyler Huntley will be the No. 2 quarterback for the team. That likely means the end of Skylar Thompson’s time with the Dolphins.

If the post really is trolling with a joke at Thompson’s expense, it’s not the most Hill teammate-ly behavior from the receiver. It is pretty hilarious, though.

[lawrence-auto-related count=3]

Skylar Thompson’s time with the Dolphins is probably up

The Dolphins are switching backup quarterbacks, which probably means it’s a wrap for the team’s 2022 seventh-round pick.

The Miami Dolphins have spent nearly three seasons developing 2022 seventh-round pick Skylar Thompson, but it seems they’re throwing in the towel.

On Monday, Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel told reporters the team is turning to Tyler Huntley to be Tua Tagovailoa’s backup. That moves Thompson to third on the depth chart, which means his spot on the 53-man roster is tenuous, at best.

While Miami has carried three quarterbacks for stretches this season, including its Week 13 loss to the Green Bay Packers, the Dolphins started the year with only two quarterbacks on the active roster. So long as Tagovailoa and one backup are both healthy, the team will probably save roster space by sticking with just a pair of passers.

Assuming Thompson clears waivers, he’s a logical candidate to be retained on the practice squad. But will he ever see the Dolphins’ active roster again? Probably not.

The Dolphins now have three year’s worth of evidence that Thompson isn’t a player they can trust to step into the lineup when needed. Even trusting the quarterback to hand the ball off in the fourth quarter of a blowout win against the New England Patriots turned into a disaster for the team.

The team’s decision to turn to Huntley down the stretch speaks volumes. And it’s hard to imagine Miami has any interest in having Thompson around as a backup in 2025 and beyond.

In three years with the Dolphins, Thompson has appeared in 10 regular season games with one touchdown and three interceptions. He also made a playoff start, which he finished with a touchdown and two picks. It’d be a surprise if Miami has Thompson in its lineup ever again.

[lawrence-auto-related count=3]

Dolphins move Tua Tagovailoa to active roster, release QB to make room

After weeks of quarterback transactions, the Dolphins’ depth chart at the position is back to what it was at the start of the season.

The Miami Dolphins officially moved Tua Tagovailoa to the active roster from the injured reserve Saturday, the team announced.

It was an expected move after Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel told reporters that Tagovailoa cleared the final steps of the NFL’s concussion protocol making him the team’s starter Sunday against the Arizona Cardinals. To make room for Tagovailoa, the Dolphins cut quarterback Tim Boyle, who was signed to the active roster last week as a backup to Tyler Huntley.

The move means that the Dolphins’ quarterback depth chart now looks like it did for the first two weeks of the season with Tagovailoa starting and Skylar Thompson serving as the team’s primary backup.

Huntley was placed on injured reserve Friday and veteran C.J. Beathard was added to the practice squad earlier in the week.

Additionally, the Dolphins elevated long snapper Matt Overton and defensive lineman Neil Farrell to the active roster for Sunday. Miami’s usual long snapper Blake Ferguson is on the non-football illness list and defensive lineman Zach Sieler suffered a fractured orbital in practice that will keep him out against the Arizona Cardinals.

[lawrence-auto-related count=3]

Tua Tagovailoa defends Dolphins backup QBs who struggled in his place

Tua Tagovailoa says “it’s really tough to ask” a backup to step in and find immediate success in the Dolphins offense.

The Miami Dolphins won just one of their four games without Tua Tagovailoa, and averaged a dismal 10 points per game during the stretch.

Skylar Thompson, Tyler Huntley, and Tim Boyle all saw time under center, and found varying levels of success, but the Dolphins’ only touchdown pass since Week 2 was a 10-yard screen pass to Jonnu Smith on Sunday against the Indianapolis Colts.

“Listen, I think it’s really tough to ask any of our quarterbacks to come in to do the footwork that we’ve been doing for the past two years,” Tagovailoa said Monday. “To see fast guys running and seeing the space that’s there and asking them to kind of process all of that.

“We looked at film, we were able to see what we missed and what we could’Sve got better with, but it’s a team sport. It shouldn’t take one position for this whole thing to crumble, everybody needs to be on their Ps and Qs as well.”

In September, not long after Tagovailoa landed on injured reserve due to the concussion he suffered in Week 2, Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel said he’d “kind of get triggered” by comments that any passer could step into his system and find success.

“To say that anybody could, then we would have open tryouts and that would be very salary cap-friendly,” McDaniel said. “I think the way that Tua plays the position is very unique and that’s always triggered me that people have said anybody can. … From my vantage point, being in the offense for 20 years, that the statement that anybody can run it is false.”

Still, McDaniel said Monday that he stressed to his team that they can’t see Tagovailoa as the “savior” who will fix all of their offensive woes. There have been plenty of mistakes and miscues beyond just the issues at quarterback.

The trio of Huntley, Thompson, and Boyle combined to complete 60 percent of their passes in relief of Tagovailoa for 717 yards with one touchdown and one interception.

[lawrence-auto-related count=3]

Dolphins plan to stick with Tyler Huntley as starter after Week 6 bye

Sorry Skylar Thompson, the reins to the Dolphins offense are staying in Tyler Huntley’s hands.

The Miami Dolphins will be without Tua Tagovailoa for at least one more game, as he’s ineligible to return until Week 8 at the earliest. In the meantime, Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel is comfortable with Tyler Huntley continuing to be the team’s starter.

“I feel very happy with the way ‘Snoop’ [Huntley] went from managing the offense, so to speak, in his first outing to … I thought he was executing the offense and that’s to his credit,” McDaniel said Monday. “I feel pretty good about how fast he’s developed, and I would guess to forecast continuing that development process with the offense. The operation was better but not as good as it could be and you hope that with continuity, there’s an improvement in that.”

In Huntley’s second start with the Dolphins, he completed 18 of his 31 passes for 194 yards — more than double the 96 passing yards he recorded in Week 4 — even if he threw an interception and no touchdowns.

“We’re just going to continue to build off of that,” Huntley said after the 15-10 win against the New England Patriots on Sunday. “We have a bye week coming up. We’re going to get in the lab, work on the things that we need to fix, and come out the next week ready to fire.”

In August, the Dolphins held a competition between Skylar Thompson and Mike White for backup duties. Thompson won with a strong performance in the team’s preseason finale, but when he was thrust into the starting lineup in Week 3, he struggled and Miami scored just three points in a loss to the Seattle Seahawks.

Thompson suffered an injured rib in that loss, but it appears as though he won’t be taking back the No. 2 spot on the depth chart from Huntley even when he’s healthy again.

Following their Week 6 bye, the Dolphins will travel to play the Indianapolis Colts on the road in Week 7. No team has allowed more yards so far this season than Indianapolis.

[lawrence-auto-related count=3]

Dolphins release QB Tim Boyle, QB Skylar Thompson to serve as backup

The roster move clears a spot for the Dolphins to activate WR Odell Beckham Jr. or CB Cam Smith from the PUP list.

The Miami Dolphins released quarterback Tim Boyle from their roster Friday.

Boyle, 30, signed with the Dolphins practice squad in August after he was released by the Houston Texans at the end of training camp. After a few weeks with Miami, he was bumped up to the active roster following Tua Tagovailoa’s move to the injured reserve due to a concussion.

It didn’t take long for Boyle to be called into action, as Skylar Thompson suffered a ribs injury in his first start of the season. After taking over in the third quarter, Boyle completed seven of his 13 passes for 79 yards against the Seattle Seahawks.

With Tagovailoa and Thompson unavailable to start in Week 4, the Dolphins passed up Boyle to start Tyler Huntley instead. And despite Huntley’s struggles in a loss to the Titans, the Dolphins again named the newcomer their starter in Week 5.

Now it’s Thompson who will serve as the backup for Huntley on Sunday against the New England Patriots.

The reason for the move is likely to make room on the roster for one of the team’s PUP list members to get activated. Wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. and cornerback Cam Smith are both listed as questionable for Sunday, but aren’t currently members of the active roster and don’t count against the team’s 53-man roster limit.

[lawrence-auto-related count=3]

Jordan Poyer ruled out, 3 Dolphins questionable vs. Patriots in Week 5

Odell Beckham Jr. is listed as questionable and could make his Dolphins debut on Sunday.

The Miami Dolphins will be without safety Jordan Poyer, but will have running back Raheem Mostert back in action Sunday against the New England Patriots in Week 5.

Wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. may make his Dolphins debut, as he’s one of three players for Miami who is questionable to play.

Both Beckham and cornerback Cam Smith are still technically members of the physically unable to perform (PUP) list, but can be moved to the active roster at any point in the next three weeks. Once they’re activated, a player (or two) will need to be released from the 53-man roster to make room.

The other questionable player, quarterback Skylar Thompson, started for the Dolphins in Week 3, but was the emergency third quarterback last week against the Tennessee Titans.

The list of injured Patriots is much longer with linebacker Sione Takitaki doubtful to play, and 12 New England players listed as questionable. That includes safeties Jabrill Peppers and Kyle Duggar, and cornerbacks Marcus Jones and Jonathan Jones, all of whom are listed as starting members of the Patriots secondary.

[lawrence-auto-related count=3]

Dolphins to start Tyler Huntley at QB vs. Titans in Week 4

The Dolphins are turning to former Ravens quarterback Tyler Huntley to lead the way, Mike McDaniel says.

Tyler Huntley will be the Miami Dolphins’ starting quarterback Monday night against the Tennessee Titans, head coach Mike McDaniel told reporters Saturday.

“We’re going to move forward with ‘Snoop’ [Huntley] starting and [Tim] Boyle backing him up on Monday,” McDaniel said. “One thing that was supremely obvious to the team since he got here and even more so this practice week is Snoop has started multiple and many big games.

“He’s done an impressive job assimilating into the locker room and understanding our language as his own, and the team is excited for him.”

Huntley, 26, joined the Dolphins last week after he was signed off the Baltimore Ravens’ practice squad. He was listed as a third emergency quarterback in Miami’s Week 3 loss against the Seattle Seahawks, because McDaniel deemed it too soon for the Huntley to be ready to operate the offense.

But with Skylar Thompson dealing with a rib injury, the Dolphins are turning to Huntley sooner rather than later.

On Friday, Huntley told reporters that he’s working to pick up the Miami offense, which is “like riding a bike.” He also said he and Dolphins coaches will work to “dumb down how many [plays] we like or don’t like” before Monday.

[lawrence-auto-related count=3]