NFL
Who is Skylar Thompson, the Miami Dolphins Rookie Quarterback?
Tim Crean started writing about sports in 2016 and joined Sportscasting in 2021. He excels with his versatile coverage of the NFL and soccer landscape, as well as his expertise breaking down sports media, which stems from his many years downloading podcasts before they were even cool and countless hours spent listening to Mike & The Mad Dog and The Dan Patrick Show, among other programs. As a longtime self-professed sports junkie who even played DII lacrosse at LeMoyne College in Syracuse, New York, Tim loves reading about all the latest sports news every day and considers it a dream to write about sports professionally. He's a lifelong Buffalo Bills fan from Western New York who mistakenly thought, back in the early '90s, that his team would be in the Super Bowl every year. He started following European soccer — with a Manchester City focus — in the early 2000s after spending far too much time playing FIFA. When he's not enjoying a round of golf or coaching youth soccer and flag football, Tim likes reading the work of Bill Simmons, Tony Kornheiser, Chuck Klosterman, and Tom Wolfe.
All posts by Tim CreanUpdated16 Oct 2022
The Miami Dolphins are in a concussion crisis after the terrifying Tua Tagovailoa situation and backup Teddy Bridgewater going into concussion protocol last week. While Bridgewater is cleared to play in Week 6 vs. the Minnesota Vikings, it will be rookie seventh-round pick Skylar Thompson starting at quarterback for the Dolphins on Sunday. That begs the question, who is Skylar Thompson?
Who is Dolphins rookie quarterback Skylar Thompson?
Despite having 2020 No. 5 overall pick Tua Tagovailoa on the roster and signing high-end backup Teddy Bridgewater this offseason, the Dolphins still took Kansas State signal-caller Skylar Thompson at pick No. 247 in the seventh round.
The 2022 NFL Draft quarterback class wasn’t a great one, but there were several intriguing late-round sleepers, and Skylar Thompson was one of them. For a team like the Dolphins, who didn’t have many draft picks after the Tyreek Hill trade, this was a solid value pick.
Thompson is a Missouri native and was a three-star prospect coming out of Fort Osage High School in Independence, Missouri. The QB generated interest from a lot of middling FCS schools and chose to play for the Kansas State Wildcats.
Thompson did play a little during his freshman season but ultimately redshirted. Then, he started the next four seasons in Manhattan, Kansas. His year-by-year production in college looked like this:
| School | YEAR | GAMES | CMP | CMP % | PASS YARDS | TD | INT | RUSH YDS | RUSH TD |
| Kansas State | 2017 | 8 | 51 | 61.4 | 689 | 5 | 3 | 267 | 3 |
| Kansas State | 2018 | 11 | 122 | 58.7 | 1,391 | 9 | 4 | 373 | 5 |
| Kansas State | 2019 | 13 | 177 | 59.6 | 2,315 | 12 | 5 | 405 | 11 |
| Kansas State | 2020 | 3 | 40 | 62.5 | 626 | 4 | 0 | 38 | 3 |
| Kansas State | 2021 | 10 | 162 | 69.5 | 2,103 | 12 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
At the 2022 NFL combine, Skylar Thompson ran a 4.91 40-yard dash with a 30-inch vertical jump, 112-inch broad jump, 7-second three-cone drill, and a 4.28 20-yard shuttle at 6-foot-2, 217 pounds. The solid production combined with the decent measurables made Thomson a legit late-round flyer prospect at QB.
Why is the rookie starting over Teddy Bridgewater?
After one diagnosed concussion and one suspected concussion just four days apart, it makes complete sense that the Miami Dolphins and head coach Mike McDaniel aren’t playing Tua Tagovailoa in Week 6 against the Vikings.
In fact, it wouldn’t be out of the realm of possibility for the team not to play Tua again this season to protect him from what could be an incredibly damaging third concussion, but that’s another discussion for another time.
This week, the discussion is, why are the Dolphins starting the rookie Skylar Thompson when Teddy Bridgewater — who the team signed to a one-year, $6.5 million deal this offseason — is cleared to play.
Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio has a theory.
The only theory that makes sense is that “Presumably, coach Mike McDaniel has crafted and the team has practiced a game plan specific to Thompson’s skills and abilities.”
There are some other, more conspiratorial theories about the Dolphins being in the NFL penalty box after their concussion protocol skirting three weeks ago, but we’ll go with Florio’s explanation for now.
Have thoughts on this topic? Keep the conversation rolling in our comments section below.
