Had Quinn Ewers taken over for Tua Tagovailoa and been an abject disaster helming the Miami Dolphins offense, no one would've thought anything of it. Mike McDaniel's team would've been in the same position regardless, needing to find a feasible way out of Tua's contract while also searching for answers at quarterback, most likely via the NFL Draft. But after some promising flashes last week, Ewers appears to be showing even more than that in Week 17 against the Bucs.
Ewers threw his first career touchdown pass on Sunday against Tampa Bay (then later added another) while leading the Dolphins to a lead over the Buccaneers. He looked comfortable, decisive, and frankly well-equipped to succeed in the Miami offense. More importantly, he proved to be far more adept out of structure when necessary than Tagovailoa has been in years. And now, the Dolphins have a problem on their hands — but it's actually a good problem to have in their current situation.
Quinn Ewers makes the Dolphins' path forward tricky in a good way
To be clear, Ewers certainly hasn't taken the starting job and run with it. There are viable questions about his ability to be a legitimate NFL starter in Miami or otherwise. At the same time, for a seventh-round rookie to show these signs in only his second start is positive, and something that the Dolphins now have to factor into their considerations at quarterback moving forward.
Obviously, moving on from Tua's contract isn't going to be easy. Cutting him this offseason would incur massive cap hits for at least the 2026 season, and perhaps split across 2026 and 2027. They could also trade him, which would bring on a much less substantial cap hit — but also won't be easy or return much value given how his stock has cratered and any buying team's reluctance to take on a bloated contract. Or, the other option would be keeping him on as an overly expensive backup, a la Kirk Cousins in Atlanta.
But the reality is that Tua's future and the Dolphins' future really aren't all that intertwined at this point, or at least what happens with the former first-round pick won't dictate what Miami does. They have to consider who will be taking snaps if it's not Tagovailoa, and that's where Ewers comes into play. Before he showed any promise, the assumption would've been the most likely route was maneuvering in the draft to take another young quarterback with an early pick.
Now that Ewers has thrown his hat into the ring, though, that opens even more doors for Miami to potentially run through toward the future.
Should the Dolphins start Quinn Ewers, or hand off the keys again?
Drafting a quarterback with a first-round pick (and even trading up for one), or at least a Top 100 pick, is definitely still on the table for the Dolphins. This isn't a deep quarterback class in the 2026 draft, but both Fernando Mendoza and Dante Moore Jr. appear to be more-than-solid top-end prospects. At the same time, there would be merits to letting Ewers get a full crack at it.
For one, it would be a completely different and more advantageous situation for Ewers. He'd get the full offseason, training camp, and preseason as the starter, which would help him build an even better rapport and, in theory, develop around the positives we've already seen from him since he took over after Tua was benched.
Beyond that, though, Miami would then be able to use their draft class and any available cap space to start building a functional roster. More important in that discussion is that they'd be able to do so with a new front office regime with Chris Grier — who many have called the root of the problem with the Dolphins in recent years — no longer employed. It would allow this franchise to start laying infrastructural building blocks independent of quarterback while taking a roll of the dice with Ewers.
And to me, that's the best course of action. If Ewers finally lives up to what he was billed as coming into college football as a recruit (a consensus 5-star prospect) with Miami, then they have an ultra cheap option at quarterback to build a core around as he develops and plays out his rookie deal. If he flops, then the Dolphins will have a high draft pick in a better quarterback class, and would bring that quarterback into an ultimately better situation.
Having said that, this is all worth watching. Maybe the front office feels that Ewers has and won't show enough to earn the starting job. But the fact that the seventh-round rookie is making this a possibility means that the Dolphins, who appeared out of options and patience at quarterback, now at least have the former moving into the offseason and the future.