MIAMI _ The Miami Dolphins' three quarterbacks walked through the doors of the team's practice facility Monday and there it was: The beginning of the 2020 starting quarterback competition.
Ryan Fitzpatrick, Tua Tagovailoa and Josh Rosen all reported ahead of other veterans, ready for whatever work offensive coordinator Chan Gailey had for them _ and whatever work the NFL's COVID policy allowed.
And in so doing, they took the first step of what likely will be a seasonlong competition.
And I know what you're thinking:
Fitzpatrick is the starter today.
And Tagovailoa is the starter of the future.
And Rosen is a wonderful insurance policy in case Plan A and Plan B somehow don't work out.
It sounds logical. It even seems likely. But it's probably not exactly correct.
Because if this remade Dolphins coaching staff is anything like 99.99% of the other staffs ever to coach professional football in the entire history of the game, they are about encouraging competition.
And unless head coach Brian Flores has undergone a drastic philosophical change since we last saw him on a sideline in December 2019, he remains about improving his team through competition.
So the Dolphins, a team with two quarterbacks selected in the first round of the NFL draft and a veteran who's seen, played and probably knows more of the NFL game than some of the team's coaches, have a quarterback competition.
It's on.
Maybe this is surprising to you. Because while everyone agrees Tagovailoa is the team's future, there is a sentiment out there that he's going to need a lot of time to ease into the pros. There's a sentiment he needs a redshirt year to give the Dolphins certainty the injury issues he managed his final year at Alabama on through the draft have been overcome.
I shared some of that take-it-slow sentiment when Tagovailoa was selected No. 5 overall in the NFL Draft. It made sense then.
But that was a pandemic shutdown and a pandemic sequel ago. And that sentiment along with most of my other sentimentality is completely gone.
More importantly I've heard whispers from the Dolphins that competition will be the thing for them in what little run-up they have to the season during this training camp. And that includes quarterbacks. So I'm passing that along.
It's on.
Fitzpatrick at the head of the class, yes. Tagovailoa a possible prodigy, yes. Rosen a great option, yes. All working together.
But all competing.
Perhaps you don't agree with this expected approach. That's understandable. Tagovailoa, like all rookies, has a lot of ground to cover and has not been given the luxury of covering it all because the pandemic effectively shut down all offseason on-field work in the facility.
He's behind.
Then consider Fitzpatrick played under Gailey for years in Buffalo and with the New York Jets so he knows the coordinator's system and the veteran's advantage is considerable.
But there's also this: The NFL has a template for bringing rookies, including quarterbacks, up to speed quickly without the benefit of an offseason.
In 2011, you might recall, the NFL declared a player lockout on March 11. And the league and the union had zero offseason. So no minicamps. No rookie camps. No OTAs.
The lockout ended July 25 and suddenly everything had to come together in a hurry. Teams began signing free agents. Rookies finally got to meet their coaches and teammates and get familiar with their assignments.
You know what happened to the handful of rookie quarterbacks who were selected in the draft's first couple of rounds that year? They started for their teams.
Cam Newton started all 16 games as a rookie in 2011.
Andy Dalton started all 16 games as a rookie.
Blaine Gabbert started 14 games. Christian Ponder started 10. Jake Locker started five.
The only rookie quarterback who didn't get on the field in 2011 after being drafted in the first two rounds was Colin Kaepernick and that's probably because Alex Smith was good enough to lead the San Francisco 49ers to a 13-3 record.
So those rookie quarterbacks were in a similar situation as Tagovailoa finds himself now. And with only one exception they all got on the field and started games as rookies.
So how can the Dolphins, holding what they believe is a prize quarterback talent in Tagovailoa, decide to shelve that talent all season, or most of the season, without the benefit of even one practice? Without the benefit of any competition?
They cannot.
It's on.
