In-Season QB Changes

When the Dolphins made the switch from veteran Ryan Fitzpatrick to rookie first-round pick Tua Tagovailoa during the bye week, it marked the seventh time in franchise history the team made an in-season quarterback change for non-injury reasons.

The other switches occurred in the Dolphins’ first season in 1966, in 1980, 1983, 2004, 2010 and just last year.

The first thing that stands out is that only once did the quarterback inserted after the start of the season keep the starting job the rest of the way.

That quarterback, of course, was Dan Marino, who took over for David Woodley as the starter in Week 6 of his rookie season in 1983.

Barring injury, there’s every expectation that Tagovailoa will join Marino in that category, a prediction made by Fitzpatrick himself when he addressed the media after the switch.

It helped that Marino thrived right away, with a simply brilliant performance in his first start.

The other five times, it didn't work out so well for the Dolphins or their new starter as we revisit.

1966 — Rick Norton replaced Dick Wood after the very first game in franchise history, but didn’t fare much better and was benched during the game after going 8-for20 for 97 yards with a touchdown and an interception. Norton would start one more game before it was his turn to losing the starting job. The Dolphins would end up using four different starting quarterbacks that year and finish 3-11. The Dolphins then addressed their quarterback situation in the next draft when they selected Bob Griese with the fourth overall selection.