In a world where the backup quarterback is sometimes the most popular guy in town, Dolphins quarterback Skylar Thompson, the rookie seventh-round pick from Kansas State who dazzled in preseason, is trying to stay low key.
It’s been fairly easy so far.
We’ll see whether it lasts.
“Fans, media, coaches, everybody in football, your favorite player is the backup quarterback,” Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel said. “The grass is greener.”
For the time being, that’s Thompson’s role, backup quarterback. Tua Tagovailoa is in concussion protocol. That means Teddy Bridgewater is the starter for Sunday’s game at the New York Jets, and Thompson, who started the season as the No. 3 quarterback, is now No. 2.
Thompson was a preseason star. Everything he touched turned to gold. He moved the offense, he made the right decisions, he threw deep, and he was accurate.
He finished with 450 passing yards, five touchdowns, no interceptions, and a sparkling 138.4 passer rating.
Michael Deiter plays center and guard on the scout team alongside Thompson each week in practice.
“He’s super commanding in the huddle, and most importantly knows all of his [expletive], he’s on top of his stuff, which is good, and he goes out and he plays with confidence and really cuts it loose,” Deiter said. “You saw it in preseason. He wasn’t wasting any time getting the ball out, he was putting it on guys.”
Last week at Cincinnati he got to put on a NFL jersey for a regular season game for the first time, and he got to throw passes in pregame warmups for the first time.
“It was exciting,” he said. “It’s a big moment, first time getting to put a jersey on during the season is a cool moment for me and my family and all that.”
This week he’s fielded calls from former high school and college coaches who are happy he’s serving as a backup quarterback this week.
Now, as the backup quarterback, Thompson is one play away from the spotlight, the hot seat, the opportunity of a lifetime, whatever you want to call it.
There’s a small segment of Dolphins fans who wanted Thompson to be named the starter ahead of Bridgewater.
Thompson isn’t getting caught up in that stuff.
“Everybody has their opinion on whatever,” he said. “All of that is white noise to me. I’m just focused on what I have been focused on since the day I got here, which is getting better every day, trying to put myself in position to help the team win.”
Thompson did that in preseason.
A stir was created.
The chatter was legitimized when the Dolphins decided to keep Thompson on the 53-man roster instead of trying to sneak him onto the practice squad, a move that would have exposed him to waivers, which would likely have led to him being claimed by another team.
Deiter recalled his first impressions of Thompson.
“My initial thought was the kid is confident,” Deiter said. “He went out there early in camp and was putting balls on guys. He was throwing accurately and he was throwing stuff that some guys were nervous to throw, which is fun to see, guys that want to make plays, that push the ball down the field. He did that right away and it was cool to see, like, ‘Hey, this rook’s got a little bit of juice.’
“It was cool to know we had three quarterbacks that could cut it loose and win games for us right away, early in camp.”
Thompson was inactive for the first three games but Tagovailoa’s injury against Buffalo opened the door for Thompson to be active for the Cincinnati game.
Of course, reality came in more ways than one when Tagovailoa was sacked and left the game on a stretcher. Bridgewater suddenly became the starter and Thompson was the backup, one play from making his NFL debut. It didn’t happen but Thompson said he was ready then, and is ready now. He said he’s approached each week as though he’d be the starter.
“I feel very prepared,” he said. “And like I said, it kind of goes back to the way that I’ve approached it since the season has started, just preparing like I’m the starter each week so if something like this happens I don’t have to ramp everything up like, ‘I’ve got to do this, I’ve got to do that.’ "
Despite all the chatter, Thompson knows the deal. He’s the guy people want to see (out of curiosity) and the guy people don’t want to see (because it means Bridgewater is injured or not playing well).
He’s just trying to do his job.
“My role here is to help support Teddy,” Thompson said. “He’s the starter, he’s our guy. I’ve looked up to Teddy since the moment I’ve gotten into this locker room.
“Whatever I can do to help the team in this position is what I’m going to do, and I’m excited for that.”
