Skylar Thompson #2

Imagine being on the side of the trade where WE trade our backup down the round for a 1st and 3rd? That's how you build draft value!

I don't care if they keep Bridgewater, but they better not lose Thompson.

I might have to get angry about that!!

finfanatic wrote:I don't care if they keep Bridgewater, but they better not lose Thompson.

I might have to get angry about that!!

I'm not worried. McDaniel isn't going to let Thompson go - no chance. We'll keep 3 QBs.

Bridgewater 4 of 10, 74 yards, 66.3 passer rating.

Skylar 7 of 10, 103 yards, 3 TDs, 142.9 passer rating.

Any questions?

BTW Tua's passer rating tonight was even higher than Skylar's which means Bridgewater's the weak link in the QB room--right in line with everything I've been told this entire camp and preseason.

If players having to earn their spot through performance means ANYTHING at all, Skylar deserves the #2 spot. Otherwise, all that talk is just more empty lies and bullshit. IDK about you but I'm sick of the people supposedly in charge feeding me empty lies and bullshit. I'm already having trouble taking McDaniel seriously as it is. The honeymoon's over, he now needs to prove himself to me.

If there's a rookie QB out there who's played as well as or better than Skylar, I sure as hell haven't heard about it. In hindsight maybe this was the perfect draft for a 7th round QB to come out of nowhere and be the best.

Did The Torch finish the preseason with the highest QB rating in the preseason for the entire NFL?

Hope Tua is the man. Skylar is backup and grows if needed. Trade Teddy Backup.

The more I think about it, the less sense it makes to keep Bridgewater. He's been so mediocre that the version of me from years ago would've called him Bilgewater. I'm a better person than that now, but he still needs to go for one simple reason. If Tua goes down and Bridgewater steps in, it's Brissett from last season all over again. Which means this team will lose multiple games they shouldn't. And meanwhile you've got another guy who literally could not look more promising just rotting on the bench. At some point McDaniel would have to step in and bench Bridgewater anyway WHEN this happens. So why not just play Skylar right away? All Bridgewater is at this point is a progress stopper. He's not shown he'd be good enough to win games, and keeping him at #2 just completely halts and even ruins all of Skylar's development so far. So what good is he? What useful purpose does he serve? Why should he be entitled to a roster spot just because of money? If you go strictly by on-field performance and practice, Skylar has CLEARLY been better. It's not even close now. And furthermore if the mediocre journeyman's kept around the rest of the team will lose morale because they all know the truth. They see those guys every day. It would make an absolute mockery of any message McDaniel is sending about players having to earn their spot. That's when a coach loses a team. Is it worth losing the locker room to keep a mediocre journeyman as the #2 QB because money and experience, completely disregarding how much better the third guy's been literally this entire time? HELL NO I say!!!

This^^^^ let Bridgewater go play for his 6th NFL team!

Bridgewater will be fine once the games count IMO. Skylar has a bright future but I'd prefer to let him sit and learn til 2023.

HalCHorn wrote:Bridgewater will be fine once the games count IMO.  Skylar has a bright future but I'd prefer to let him sit and learn til 2023.

On this topic I respectfully have to disagree with you. Sitting and getting an extremely limited amount of reps this season not only won't help Skylar's development but will severely hinder it. The Fins somehow managed to stumble onto a gem by pure accident and I want to see how far this goes. What could Skylar learn from Bridgewater anyway, how to be mediocre at best? You think Bridgewater's even going to try teaching Skylar anything give the situation? He's got to know his job is on the line. I wouldn't train some workplace rookie to take my job either.

I read The Torch has the highest rating of all QB's this preseason. Threw for most yards, TD's , and was 2nd in completion percentage.

I know the team will be tempted to sneak Skylar onto the waiver wire.

Don't do it.

If you are going to invest in a roster position, make it the QB position.

Remember, as much as I love Tua and I think he is poised for a great year - history says he will miss a few games due to injury.

white1 wrote:I know the team will be tempted to sneak Skylar onto the waiver wire.

Don't do it.

If you are going to invest in a roster position, make it the QB position.

Remember, as much as I love Tua and I think he is poised for a great year - history says he will miss a few games due to injury.

Yesterday morning when we were both watching Fins-Eagles, I explained to the GF about how NFL practice squads work and why it was so important for the Fins to NOT put Skylar Thompson there even though in today's NFL teams don't carry 3 QBs like they used to, and she totally understood. It wouldn't surprise me in the least if she turned out to be smarter than McDaniel and Grier about this.

If ANYTHING else is done besides putting Skylar on the active roster, I legit may be done for good. I could even tolerate them not cutting or trading Bridgewater if they at least do this. I'd be pissed, but I could tolerate it. Doing ANYTHING else would literally and completely invalidate drafting him to begin with. Why on God's green earth would you spend a 7th round pick on a QB, see him tear it up like no other 7th round QB this century in camp and preseason, and then just be like, "Eh, we'll just let him go, whatever."??? It would be like Belichick looking at Brady in the 2000 preseason and deciding to cut him since he was only a 6th round rookie and they never amount to anything. Speaking of Brady, I found this little tidbit.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Brady#Professional_career

Brady started the 2000 season as the fourth-string quarterback, behind starter Drew Bledsoe and backups John Friesz and Michael Bishop; by the end of the season, he was number two on the depth chart behind Bledsoe.

Yup, the '00 Pats carried FOUR QBs, at least initially PFR confirms this. Imagine how much the course of NFL history since 2000 would've been changed if Brady had been treated like I'm increasingly fearing Skylar will be...

I don't see any way Thompson isn't on the 53. I could see a Wannstedt or Flores making that error, but not an offense-minded coach who had a say in drafting Thompson. He's earned his spot. He could turn into far, far more than expected in the long run, but for now I'm hoping we don't have to break the emergency glass.

Bridgewater can win with talent around him, we saw that in New Orleans. He's on a one year deal, hoping to earn his way back into a starting spot somewhere. Thompson is almost certainly getting elevated in 2023. If he turns out to be a Brady/Warner level of surprise, fantastic. Either way he looks like he can play in this league.

HalCHorn wrote:I don't see any way Thompson isn't on the 53.  I could see a Wannstedt or Flores making that error, but not an offense-minded coach who had a say in drafting Thompson.  He's earned his spot.  He could turn into far, far more than expected in the long run, but for now I'm hoping we don't have to break the emergency glass.

Bridgewater can win with talent around him, we saw that in New Orleans.  He's on a one year deal, hoping to earn his way back into a starting spot somewhere.  Thompson is almost certainly getting elevated in 2023.  If he turns out to be a Brady/Warner level of surprise, fantastic.  Either way he looks like he can play in this league.

Excellent post, Hal.  I think it's a no-brainer: you keep all 3 QBs.

By all accounts I've heard, Bridgewater has been a huge addition to the QB room and I'm sure he will continue in that role throughout the season.  Having that veteran sounding-board is invaluable for young QBs.  Teddy has proven he can play in this league, and having a guy with his experience coming off the bench is a big advantage for the Dolphins.

Skyler has done a fantastic job against backups, and I'm sure McDaniel and his staff will continue to develop him.  I fully expect him to compete for the #2 job next offseason.

“He’s made it tough,” McDaniel said. “It’s more rare you see quarterback doing that [as a rookie]... He has made [teammates] better by helping them get aligned. We’ve had very few procedural issues. It’s rare a guy could be seventh round pick and people outside organization know his name.

"He’s opened eyes the way he’s played. He’s made that situation very tricky in terms of whether or not you can try to have him on the practice squad or keep him on the 53. . He should hold his head high and hopefully rest easy because he has done quite literally everything he can to be a part of this team.”

https://www.miamiherald.com/sports/spt-columns-blogs/barry-jackson/article264664294.html

to say, "he has done quite literally everything he can to be a part of this team," doesn't sound like a guy they are about to cut.

mercury22nathan wrote:

“He’s made it tough,” McDaniel said. “It’s more rare you see quarterback doing that [as a rookie]... He has made [teammates] better by helping them get aligned. We’ve had very few procedural issues. It’s rare a guy could be seventh round pick and people outside organization know his name.

"He’s opened eyes the way he’s played. He’s made that situation very tricky in terms of whether or not you can try to have him on the practice squad or keep him on the 53. . He should hold his head high and hopefully rest easy because he has done quite literally everything he can to be a part of this team.”

https://www.miamiherald.com/sports/spt-columns-blogs/barry-jackson/article264664294.html

to say, "he has done quite literally everything he can to be a part of this team," doesn't sound like a guy they are about to cut.

Exactly. And this line points to him as the #3, meaning Teddy stays: "He’s made that situation very tricky in terms of whether or not you can try to have him on the practice squad or keep him on the 53."

I read the same thing and to me I interpret it as McDaniel saying, "This random 7th round quarterback we drafted for no real reason has looked way better than he was supposed to and that annoys me because I wanted to plop him on the practice squad and now I might have to waste a precious roster spot on him, dagnabit."

It shouldn't even be an issue. This shouldn't even be a discussion at all, and yet here's McDaniel acting like it's some agonizing decision he wasn't planning on having to make, and is resentful that he does. But we'll see soon enough.

HalCHorn wrote:Bridgewater can win with talent around him, we saw that in New Orleans.

That was 3 years ago, and Bridgewater's gone 12-18 as a starter on 2 other teams since. Don't see how that stint with the Saints in 2019 is relevant in 2022.

DolFan 316 wrote:

HalCHorn wrote:Bridgewater can win with talent around him, we saw that in New Orleans.

That was 3 years ago, and Bridgewater's gone 12-18 as a starter on 2 other teams since. Don't see how that stint with the Saints in 2019 is relevant in 2022.

This Dolphin team has much more comparable talent to that contending Saints team than either of the teams Bridgewater played for since.

2020 Carolina had a bottom 10 defense against both the run and the pass and the key offensive weapon (McCaffery) missed almost the entire season. They were a respectable 12th in yards per pass play with Teddy starting the season, but that team was going to have a losing record regardless of who was playing QB.

2021 Denver was a .500 team with Bridgewater, 0-3 without him.

Granted, he ain't Marino, but I'd take him over the vast majority of backups in the league. I can see several situations where he'd be starting week one (Seattle, Cleveland, Atlanta, Houston, etc) if those teams had him.

HalCHorn wrote:Granted, he ain't Marino, but I'd take him over the vast majority of backups in the league.  I can see several situations where he'd be starting week one (Seattle, Cleveland, Atlanta, Houston, etc) if those teams had him.

Then he should be traded to one of those teams. (Drops mic.)

BTW you do realize this is just the universe balancing itself out since we agree on that other thing, right?

BTW love the comments here. And no, I didn't make up a bunch of aliases

https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2022/08/29/mike-mcdaniel-very-tricky-decision-to-make-on-skylar-thompson/#comments

This one wins the internet for today.

We already know what Teddy brings and doesnt bring. He barely won a starting job over Drew Lock, who couldnt beat out Geno Smith, either. Cut Teddy. Am I the only one who remembers him rejecting a starting job in Miami for a back up job in New Orleans?

I admit it, I had completely forgotten about this too!!! And NOW they're supposed to keep this ingrate??? HA!!!

And THEN...something else I had forgotten...the Jets signed Bridgewater in March of 2018--and traded him to the Saints that August! So it's not even as if this hasn't been done with him before.

#justice4skylar #skylarslifematters

Thompson at least made the roster. Seems obvious, but with this team I'll take any tiny scrap of a shred of an iota of a win I can get. Only this team would go out of their way to draft a QB in the 7th round, and then act surprised and even a little annoyed when he actually plays well enough to stick

Now to ascend to the backup spot after Bridgewater proves he's Brissett Part 2. Which shouldn't take long.

DolFan 316 wrote:Only this team would go out of their way to draft a QB in the 7th round, and then act surprised and even a little annoyed when he actually plays well enough to stick      

Why do you think the Phins are surprised/annoyed that Skyler is a keeper?  I think it is the exact opposite.  I heard McDaniel say something like "I've never heard of a situation where having too many good QBs was a problem."  I think they are OVERJOYED that he has shown he is worthy of keeping.

EDIT: More on this topic:

Adam Beasley
@AdamHBeasley

Grier and McDaniel said keeping Skylar Thompson on the 53 was a no-brainer. They got calls on him. "We're not in the business of being stupid," McDaniel said.

Dak done banged up his hand, perfect opportunity for Bridgewater to be traded. Just sayin'.