MIAMI GARDENS — Coach Mike McDaniel said most of the Dolphins starters will play in Saturday’s 7 p.m. preseason game against Washington at Hard Rock Stadium.
But McDaniel, who spoke Thursday morning before the joint practice against Washington, said the team will decide Thursday afternoon which starters will play and how much they’ll play.
McDaniel said “guys who are starters,” without naming names, “will get some action” in the game and “we’ll take it from there.”
In other words, the Dolphins don’t have an established plan for playing time for anybody, including quarterback Tua Tagovailoa.
Among the top starters whose playing time will be watched, aside from Tagovailoa, are left tackle Terron Armstead, edge rusher Jaelan Phillips, defensive lineman Calais Campbell, wide receiver Tyreek Hill, running back Raheem Mostert and rookie edge rusher Chop Robinson.
Phillips was recently activated from the physically unable to perform list due to an Achilles injury and Armstead, Campbell, Hill and Phillips have had their practice participation measured, and Robinson, the first-round pick, was held out of last week’s game while battling a minor injury.
Robinson, one of the stars of training camp, participated in Wednesday’s practice and performed well.
No setback for Chubb
McDaniel said there’s been no setback for edge rusher Bradley Chubb, who is recovering from a season-ending knee injury sustained in December.
Chubb, who had a team-best 11.0 sacks last season, hasn’t yet participated in training camp practices.
However, McDaniel said Chubb has been progressing well.
There’s no timetable for Chubb’s return. Chubb was seen doing rehabilitation work before practice Thursday.
Thursday’s practice plan
McDaniel said the practice plan for Thursday’s joint practice against Washington, for the most part, calls for matching starters vs. starters and primary backups vs. primary backups.
That means Robinson might go against starters for an extended period for the first time.
The backup QB battle
McDaniel said he splits playing time between backup quarterbacks Mike White and Skylar Thompson based on a few factors instead of simply alternating days that each works with the second team.
The backup quarterback race between White, last year’s backup, and Thompson, last year’s No. 3, has been watched closely during training camp. McDaniel said the battle is “neck and neck.”
Anecdotally, Thompson has probably had more snaps with the second team during recent practices. Thompson also started last week’s preseason opener against Atlanta.
McDaniel said the process of sorting out who wins the No. 2 job remains the same.
“We allow the players to tell us who two and three are, just like the rest of our players,” he said.
McDaniel said it’ll become apparent who deserves the No. 2 job by their performance.
McDaniel said there are a lot of complicating variables to deciding who gets the No. 2 job, such as whether each quarterback gets to play with top personnel and how players respond to each quarterback.
White mentioned that after the Atlanta game, saying his goal was keeping everybody calm in the huddle because some guys were rookies who were playing for the first time, and others might be veterans who were stressing whether they’ll make the 53-man roster.
So although the starters are scheduled to play Saturday against Washington, one thing to look for when White and Thompson are on the field is who they’re surrounded by, and how those guys respond to that quarterback.
