MIAMI GARDENS — In the wake of Tua Tagovailoa’s concussion Thursday night, there was a lot of speculation about which quarterback the Miami Dolphins would sign. Now we know.
The Dolphins are signing Tyler Huntley off the Baltimore Ravens practice squad, as coach Mike McDaniel indicated Monday following an NFL Network report. The team has not yet announced any roster move.
Huntley makes a South Florida homecoming after playing his high school football at Hallandale High. He was the South Florida Sun Sentinel’s player of the year in Broward County in 2015.
Following a college career at Utah, he went undrafted in the NFL but has been backing up Lamar Jackson in Baltimore in recent years. Huntley is 3-6 as an NFL starter, completing 64.6 percent of passes for 1,957 yards, eight touchdowns, seven interceptions, 509 yards rushing and another three touchdowns rushing. He has one career playoff start, a loss to the Cincinnati Bengals in the 2022 postseason when Jackson was out.
“He was replacing the league MVP, and you can tell from far away that he was a guy the team absolutely believed he could lead them to victory,” McDaniel said of Huntley on Monday.
With a number of AFC quarterbacks either out or foregoing entry into the Pro Bowl following that season, Huntley was actually named to the NFL’s all-star exhibition.
This season, the Ravens had Josh Johnson as Jackson’s No. 2, relegating Huntley to the practice squad and making him available to get poached.
The Dolphins were in the market for a quarterback after Tagovailoa went down with a concussion in the third quarter of Thursday’s loss to the Buffalo Bills.
Backup Skylar Thompson is slated to start, and Miami (1-1) has Tim Boyle on its practice squad. Tagovailoa, now in the NFL’s concussion protocol, is at least out for Sunday’s upcoming game against the Seahawks (2-0) in Seattle.
Some names that had been thrown around as possibilities included former Dolphins quarterback Ryan Tannehill, a trade for veteran Jimmy Garoppolo or a free agent pickup of C.J. Beathard, the last two of which have experience with McDaniel in San Francisco.
Achane’s workload
Dolphins second-year running back De’Von Achane had 29 touches in Thursday’s loss.
That’s a staggering number considering Achane entered the game questionable with a tweaked ankle from the previous Sunday’s win against the Jacksonville Jaguars.
“I felt pretty good. When you play those type of games, it’s exciting to me, to play a division game,” said Achane, who had a whopping 22 carries with fellow running back Raheem Mostert out with a chest injury. “In my mind, I had it to where I’m going to play regardless. I mean, it’s just an ankle. Raheem was down, so I felt like it was up to me to step up.”
Achane said, once he got his adrenaline going, it was like his ankle was just fine.
“Once the game gets going, you couldn’t even tell that it’s still there,” he said. “You only notice it after the game when you’re a little sore. That’s when you notice everything. During the game, it’s like it’s regular.”
And there wasn’t even that much soreness for Achane.
“Actually, it didn’t feel that bad,” he said. “I was more mad that we lost, so I wasn’t as tired or as sore as I was kind of mad that we lost the game. It didn’t feel that bad.”
Through the Dolphins’ first two games, he leads the team in touches (rushing attempts plus receptions), with 46. Second on the team are Jaylen Waddle and Tyreek Hill, with 11 each.
Said McDaniel of Achane’s activity: “He’s earned all the opportunities, and he can make the case for even more.”
Achane has 265 total yards from scrimmage on his 32 carries and 14 receptions.
Brooks returns to Seattle
Sunday’s game against the Seahawks marks a return to Seattle for linebacker Jordyn Brooks, who spent his first four NFL seasons with the team before signing with the Dolphins in free agency this offseason.
“It was a good thing for me, but it’ll be good to go back and get to play against those guys,” Brooks said. “A lot of the guys on defense that I played with, a lot of the younger guys. It will be good to see them and then compete against them.”
Brooks would be as familiar as anyone with the home-field advantage the “12th man” Seahawks fans give their home team at Lumen Field. It’s known as one of the loudest environments in the NFL.
“It can get loud in there if we allow it,” Brooks said. “The fans out there, they’re crazy about the team, so whenever the Seahawks are making plays or whatever, they get really loud. But I think we can control that if we play our game.”