Who is Ryan Tannehill’s backup?

Miami Dolphins starting quarterback Ryan Tannehill may have suffered a serious leg injury Thursday. It’s time to get to know the next man up: Matt Moore.

Starting quarterback Ryan Tannehill reportedly left Dolphins practice this morning with a non-contact leg injury. There have been no updates on the severity of the injury, but the outlook doesn’t look good.

If Tannehill is out for an extended period of time, many people might wonder, who is the Dolphins’ backup quarterback? His name is Matt Moore.

Moore came into the league undrafted in 2007 out of Oregon State. He’s now a 10-year veteran, who’s been a backup essentially his whole career.

Dolphins fans should be pretty familiar with Moore. The 32-year old started his career with the Panthers, but has spent the last six seasons with the Dolphins. Moore’s first starting game time came in the 2011 season. He started 12 games and led the Dolphins to a 6-6 record. He then played sparingly over the next four seasons before getting back on the field last season.

When Tannehill suffered a sprained ACL and MCL in week 14 of last season, Matt Moore took the reigns. He led the Dolphins to a 2-1 record and an AFC Wild-Card berth. Things were looking optimistic for the team until they matched up with the Steelers in the playoffs. The Dolphins were absolutely clobbered 30-12 and Moore took some big hits in the process. He finished the game with 289 passing yards, one touchdown and one interception. 

The reality of the situation is that Matt Moore is a backup quarterback for a reason. He’s a quarterback that that can put the Dolphins in a position to win games, but it isn’t going to do it all by himself. When the Dolphins come against the more talented teams, they are going to struggle. With him under center this team is 7-9 or 8-8 at best.

If Moore is the starting quarterback for the foreseeable future, the Dolphins offense will need to rely heavily on the ground game. Jay Ajayi will be tested after a breakout season in 2016.

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Get ready Dolphins fans. It could very well be Matt Moore time come week one of the regular season.