Ian Rapoport of NFL Network reported Wednesday morning that the Miami Dolphins were benching starting quarterback Tua Tagovailoa in the midst of a rough 2025 season.
“I think the quarterback play last night was not good enough, and so for me, everything’s on the table,” head coach Mike McDaniel told reporters after Monday night’s loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers.
While former New York Jets quarterback Zach Wilson has served as the backup for most of the season, outside of Week 7’s matchup against the Cleveland Browns, seventh-round rookie Quinn Ewers was named the starting quarterback the rest of the way.
In what is the latest failed chapter of the 2021 NFL Draft’s No. 2 overall pick, Wilson has either been outplayed by Ewers in practice, or the Dolphins just aren’t interested in what the former BYU product has to offer down the stretch.
Zach Wilson Bypassed for Quinn Ewers
It says a lot that a seventh-round draft pick is getting the starting nod over a five-year veteran.
Wilson, whom the Miami Dolphins saw several times as the opposing quarterback for the New York Jets, was signed to a one-year, $6 million deal last spring to be the backup to Tagovailoa.
The decision to bypass him in favor of Ewers speaks glaringly about the state of his career.
Rapoport indicated that the move is less about Wilson’s play and more about seeing what Miami has in their former Texas quarterback.
“The seventh-round rookie gets the nod over former Jets first-rounder Zach Wilson, who had been the backup in recent weeks. The decision to leapfrog Wilson for Ewers feels like a move to see what the rookie has to offer,” wrote Rapoport.
“If he hits — say, like Brock Purdy — it would give Miami a potential cheap starter at the most expensive position in football.”
Still, you don’t hand a player $6 million to be your third-string quarterback, and the fact that Wilson didn’t get the nod is an indication of where his career is at.
It remains to be seen if the former BYU quarterback will even serve as the No. 2 behind Ewers on Sunday against the Cincinnati Bengals.
Zach Wilson’s Downward Trend Since Entering the League
Wilson was a highly-touted prospect coming into the 2021 NFL Draft, but for a multitude of reasons, some his own doing and some not, his career has not panned out.
His stint as the New York Jets’ starting quarterback was marred by inconsistencies, and he never seemed capable of being a player that can put the team on his back, as you would expect from the No. 2 overall pick in the draft.
Maybe the Jets shouldn’t have rushed his development and allowed him to sit behind a veteran for his rookie season. But even then, who’s to say the outcome would’ve been different?
After spending 2024 with the Denver Broncos and 2025 with the Miami Dolphins, who knows where Wilson’s next NFL chapter could be.
If he wants to follow in the blueprint of another Jets draft bust turned good NFL starter, he should see if the Minnesota Vikings need a veteran quarterback this offseason and try to revitalize his career a la Sam Darnold.
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