The Miami Dolphins’ lackluster backup quarterback situation proved to be a fatal flaw in 2024. ESPN’s Adam Schefter has already reported that the team will have its eye on one veteran as a possible solution.
After saying Monday that the Las Vegas Raiders could be the landing spot for impending free agent Marcus Mariota, Schefter added the Dolphins are also a strong possibility.
“I’ll tell you where else Marcus Mariota is going to be an option: in Miami with Tua [Tagovailoa] — his good friend Tua,” Schefter said on The Pat McAfee Show. “He’ll be an option there. So there could be a little bit of interest in Marcus Mariota between the Miami Dolphins and Chip Kelly and the Las Vegas Raiders. … He’ll have some interesting choices this offseason.”
“There could be a little bit of interest in Marcus Mariota between the Raiders and Dolphins..
He’s gonna have some choices this offseason”@AdamSchefter #PMSLive pic.twitter.com/H1vRP3IPuE
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) February 3, 2025
Mariota, 31, spent the 2024 season with the Washington Commanders — his fourth team in as many seasons. The former No. 2 overall pick already had a two-year stint with the Raiders earlier in his career, but speculation of a potential return is linked to the addition of Chip Kelly, who coached Mariota for two years at Oregon, as the offensive coordinator in Las Vegas.
In 2024, Mariota took snaps in three games with the Commanders and finished the year with four touchdowns and no interceptions.
Earlier this year, Dolphins general manager Chris Grier told reporters that the team made an effort to sign a free agent passer in 2024.
“We were in on a number of topflight backup quarterbacks in the league,” Grier said. “We were runner-ups for a couple of them that we wanted to get here, and for some financial restraints and compensatory pick stuff, we just couldn’t go to those, to the prices. But all of those guys wanted to come here. It’s a position we do not take lightly.”
It wouldn’t be surprising if Mariota was one of the quarterbacks who talked with the Dolphins before opting to play elsewhere. Between the one-year, $6 million deal he signed and the opportunity to compete with a rookie for snaps, the Commanders offered opportunity and pay to Mariota that the Dolphins would’ve had a hard time matching.
While the urgency to address the quarterback depth has been raised for the Dolphins after backups went 2-4 in Tagovailoa’s absence last season, many of the same challenges could arise in 2025. The Raiders have significantly more salary cap space and no entrenched starter in place.