Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

David Fales may have the inside track to No. 2 job in Miami

Buffalo Bills v Miami Dolphins

MIAMI GARDENS, FL - DECEMBER 31: David Fales #9 of the Miami Dolphins passes during the fourth quarter against the Buffalo Bills at Hard Rock Stadium on December 31, 2017 in Miami Gardens, Florida. (Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)

Getty Images

A mild burst of optimism regarding a Brock Osweiler rebirth has faded to the reality that Osweiler may not be the No. 2 quarterback in Miami, after all. For now, it appears that journeyman David Fales has the edge.

Via Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald, Fales looked like the best of three backup contenders during offseason practices open to the media. At least one player seems to agree.

“His deep ball has been remarkable this offseason, between him and [receiver] Jakeem [Grant] and [tight end Mike] Gesicki,” tight end MarQueis Gray said of Fales, per Jackson. “They’ve been hooking up a lot.”

Fales finished the 2017 season with the Dolphins, playing in the regular-season finale and completing 29 of 42 passes (69 percent) for 265 yards. He’s the only contender for the No. 2 job who was on the roster last year; Osweiler and Bryce Petty joined the Dolphins in the offseason.

Still, Fales has a long way to go to become the primary backup to Ryan Tannehill.

“We felt like [keeping Fales] was a good first step for us and really we wanted to see how everything played out, because between free agency and the draft, you just never know how things are going to shake out,” coach Adam Gase recently said, via Jason Lieser of the Palm Beach Post. “By adding Brock and then Bryce, I think it’s been a good competition.

“That’s really what we’re going to be doing going into training camp. We’re just going to let those guys compete and see who wins out.”

Gase made it clear that he won’t decide on a backup until August, or maybe September.

“Right now I don’t even want to go in that direction yet because I don’t have a great answer for it,” Gase said. “I want to see guys play in preseason games. I want to see kind of how training camp goes. That’s a lot of time there and there’s a lot of football to be played. I want those guys all competing. I’m hoping those guys all have the same mentality that they’re the guy to beat.”

Regardless of what happens, Gase still doesn’t plan to bring back Jay Cutler or otherwise add a veteran. It will be Tannehill and some combination of Fales, Osweiler, and/or Petty come Week One.