Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Dolphins are comfortable with backup QBs
DAVIE — The Miami Dolphins pump-faked the entire NFL, or at least they want the world to think they did.
While everyone associated with the organization, including coach Adam Gase, was talking up quarterbacks as the possible first-round target, the Dolphins’ decision-makers had the franchise’s eyes and hearts set on ensuring that one of the draft’s elite prospects — none of which were quarterbacks — fell to them with the No. 11 pick.
When Arizona traded up to pick No. 10 to select UCLA quarterback Josh Rosen, it ensured that Alabama standout safety Minkah Fitzpatrick was there for the Dolphins to select him.
“We felt like those guys were going to go before 11,” said Gase, referring to Baker Mayfield, who was taken No. 1 by the Cleveland Browns, Sam Darnold, who was taken third by the New York Jets, Josh Allen, who Buffalo selected seventh, and Rosen.
And as proof that this misdirection approach was indeed Miami’s strategy, the Dolphins didn’t select a quarterback in any of the draft’s six other rounds, or sign one as an undrafted rookie.
According to Gase, the Dolphins are confident in Brock Osweiler and David Fales as Ryan Tannehill’s backups, and feel confident the team can win games with both.
That wasn’t the case last year, when the season began to implode after Tannehill re-aggravated a left knee injury during training camp and was forced to miss the season after undergoing surgery.
The Dolphins then paid Jay Cutler $10 million to come out of retirement and serve as the team’s starter in 2017. He was 6-8 with a disappointing 80.8 passer rating. Miami’s coaches weren’t confident in having Matt Moore, who is an unsigned free agent, start for an entire season.
While Gase has a favorable opinion of Osweiler and Fales, he admitted front-office executives had to convince him the Dolphins should sign Osweiler, who spent the first three years of his career working under Gase in Denver, where Gase served as the quarterback coach and offensive coordinator.
“They were selling me,” Gase said. “I really had to go through things and make sure he was good, and understood the situation we were in, and what he was going to be competing for….I wanted to hear him, where he was mentally and what he wanted to accomplish. He wanted to get his career rolling again.”
Gase is referring to Osweiler’s meteoric rise and fall from NFL prominence, which included him being signed to a four-year, $72 million deal by the Houston Texans in 2016 based on his 5-2 record as a starter with the Broncos.
The Texans dumped Osweiler after one season, which featured him leading Houston to the playoffs, trading him to Cleveland, and the Browns releasing him at the conclusion of training camp.
Osweiler subsequently returned to Denver last season, but didn’t impress during the six games he played, producing a 72.5 passer rating and an 0-4 record in the games he started.
“If you’re mentally weak it can go one direction, and that can be a bad one,” Gase said about the career trauma Osweiler has experienced. “I’ve known him since he was 20 years old. I’ve seen this kid had to sit around a Hall of Famer (in Peyton Manning), which is a good thing and a bad thing sometimes. He had an opportunity and did some good things in Denver, and things didn’t go quite the way he wanted to in Houston. He had a quick stop in Cleveland, and now being here I see a guy that’s enjoyed getting back into this offense.”
As for Fales, who is beginning his third season playing for Gase, there’s a comfort level in the offense.
Fales played all but one series in Miami’s seasonending 22-16 loss to Buffalo, and completed 29-of-42 passes for 265 yards and one touchdown. He threw a game-sealing, fourth-quarter interception.
“That’s going to be an interesting position,” Gase said. “We’ll see how it all works out.”