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Marcel Louis-Jacques, ESPN
MIAMI — The Dolphins are releasing quarterback Mike White, a source told ESPN, ending a months-long position battle with Skylar Thompson for the backup job behind Tua Tagovailoa.
White, 29, signed a two-year deal worth $8 million with Miami last offseason and operated as the Dolphins’ backup quarterback throughout the 2023 season. He saw action in six games, completing 5-of-6 passes for 74 yards, one touchdown and one interception.
He split reps with Thompson, 27, throughout the Dolphins’ offseason program this year, however, as head coach Mike McDaniel looked to settle the position via a series of stress tests in practice.
“The approach that I’ve kind of taken is to create super difficult situations for both of them … because what are we really trying to evaluate?” McDaniel said. “We’re trying to evaluate who’s best to serve handling a difficult situation. Inherent in being a backup quarterback is that you are in a difficult situation, whether that’s in game or starting a game. So, we thought it was most appropriate to do that, and how that’s presented itself in practice is I’ve gotten a ton of information. There’s so many different nuances that I’m trying to focus on on a given day and then carrying that message to the game. It’s much broader than do we go down as an offense and score. It’s quite literally handling difficult situations and saying, ‘Hey, you have to go do this. I’m going to call this play, probably against a non-premier coverage. And let’s see what you do.’
“… I’m looking for nuances, resolve, the conviction after a bad play happens, how the offense is coming to the line of scrimmage, how you’re leading them, all sorts of different things on top of what I’ve already learned about them.”
White completed 20-of-43 passes this preseason for 179 yards. Thompson completed 35-of-61 passes for 379 yards, three touchdowns and two interceptions.
Releasing White saves the Dolphins $3.5 million against the salary cap this season.
A seventh-round pick in 2022, Thompson was thrust into action as a rookie after a series of injuries to Tagovailoa and primary backup Teddy Bridgewater. He played in eight games and made three starts, including the Dolphins’ loss to the Buffalo Bills in the AFC wild-card round. He did not play in 2023, operating as the team’s emergency quarterback in all 18 games.
White, who started eight games for the New York Jets in two seasons before joining the Dolphins, has thrown for 2,219 yards in his career with nine touchdown passes and 13 interceptions while completing 62.6% of his pass attempts. He was originally a fifth-round draft choice by the Dallas Cowboys in 2018.