The Mike McDaniel Effect: Dolphins QB Skylar Thompson, A Freaking 7th-Round Rookie, Is The NFL Preseason MVP By A Mile
Icon Sportswire. Getty Images.
Advertisement
I can't tell if Miami Dolphins fans are joking on social media when they're caping for Skylar Thompson to be QB1 over Tua Tagovailoa. While I think Tua is in for a breakout 2022 campaign with a far better supporting cast around him — and, you know, competent pass protection — Thompson has been the league-wide revelation that NOBODY could've seen coming.
Thompson's final stat line for the preseason? 36-of-48 passing for 450 yards, five TDs, zero INTs. This comes after Saturday's outing in which he completed seven of 10 attempts for 103 yards and three tuddies.
Mike McDaniel has been more like Mike CLICKDaniel for this blogger you're reading, but the motivation behind including him in the headline isn't just to test out how much of a singular source of pageviews his name is. Anyone concerned that McDaniel "doesn't look like a football coach" and can't command a locker room, well, take a damn second to see what he's done with Skylar Thompson. That's not a catch-all, "tells you all you need to know" harbinger of what's to come. You can't help but be impressed, though.
To be clear: Not taking anything away whatsoever from Thompson himself. Whatever favorable circumstances McDaniel has put him in to succeed, or the lesser caliber of defenders Thompson has faced in an exhibition setting, he's not playing behind a starting o-line, which again, was atrocious during Tua's prior two seasons. Thompson also isn't working with, say, Tyreek Hill or Miami's top-notch skill position guys.
What we can discern is that Thompson is elevating the play of those around him, executing within McDaniel's offense at an insanely proficient level, and legitimately sparking a competition to be Tua's main backup with Teddy Bridgewater. Raise your hand if you had THAT on your bingo card entering Dolphins camp. Not a fucking chance.
…And Thompson could've had even more yardage this evening if not for an Eagles defender smothering first-year wideout Erik Ezukanma, who's been an extremely impressive Day 3 draft pick in his own right!
Advertisement
Full-on SEED ALERT incoming from other highlight-reel moments Thompson has put on tape thus far:
Too bad the NFL folks are such hardos about highlights, or else I'd just plug in the official footage of Thompson carving it up over the past several weeks.
How wild is it that no one (to my knowledge) in the draftnik community had Thompson on their radar? It was viewed as a historically bad class of QB prospects. To go unnoticed among an unspectacular crop of talent speaks to just how much of a sleeper Thompson was. Yet here the Kansas State product is, after a five-year stint with the Wildcats, balling out on an NFL field.
Seventh-round picks are lucky to make a roster, much less be in the NFL beyond a year or two in most cases. Unless you're like a special teams ace or something. Skylar Thompson looks to be a major exception to that general rule at the most important position on the field.
Twitter @MattFitz_gerald