The Miami Dolphins, while quiet the first week or so of Free Agency, made some noise when they signed Jacoby Brissett to a one-year deal. This came the day after Ryan Fitzpatrick left for Washington, and after 2020 Dolphins’ first-round pick Tua Tagovailoa’s rookie year, where he led the Dolphins to a 7-3 record after taking over as QB1 in Week 7. Now, where does this put the Dolphins QB room, and could Brissett possibly be the starter?
Brissett, 28, was with the Colts from 2017-2020, after being drafted by and playing with the Patriots in 2016. In New England, Brissett backed up Brady and Garoppolo. But he does have some experience as a full-time starter, with most of the time coming in Indianapolis. Brissett started for the Colts in 2017 and 2019, after Luck was injured all of 2017 and retired before the 2019 season. But then in 2020, the Colts turned to Phillip Rivers.
The University of Florida and North Carolina alumnus has started 32 total games in his career. Two of those starts came with New England and 30 came with Indianapolis. Brissett is 12-20 as a starter, but he went 4-11 in 2017 with a lackluster Colts team. In fact, in 2017, Brissett took 52 total sacks, and took a sack exactly 10% of the time.
Brissett has 6459 passing yards, with 31 passing touchdowns and 13 interceptions in his career. He hasn’t really been able to amount a sample size as a starter during his career. Record-wise, Brissett has proven to not be great as a starting quarterback. But, the stats show that it wasn’t fully his fault.
So does Brissett have a chance at the starting role?
The short answer is no.
While Tua wasn’t all that good in 2020, we still haven’t seen nearly a full sample size of him. Tagavoiloa had the 31st best QB PFF Grade, which was out of 38 QB’s who were above the snap minimum.
This move to sign Jacoby Brissett was just to fill out the backup QB role, while at the same time, putting a tad-bit more pressure on Tua to perform in 2021. Brissett hasn’t been a full-time starter since 2019, so it wouldn’t make sense to make the former Colt, the starter.
Brissett is most definitely one of the best backup quarterbacks in the NFL, and the move to sign him was solely about acquiring a good backup. Making Brissett the starter would ultimately stunt the former 5th overall pick’s growth. And it just wouldn’t make sense for the present and future.
In a way, yes. This is a wake-up call to Tua. It’s a wake-up call in a way that means the Dolphins will have someone to easily turn to if poor play occurs from the former 5th overall pick. But this move, in no way, should worry Tua.
Did you know? Jacoby Brissett is a West Palm Beach native and former Dwyer High (located in Palm Beach Gardens) football standout.