Fitzpatrick is the QB, Tunsil cannot be happy. Let the 2019 Dolphins regular season begin

So the Miami Dolphins fulfilled their obligation and played their fourth preseason game Thursday night. And now that we’re done with that tedious exercise, we can move on to the interesting stuff ...

... We can get about the business of the Dolphins’ 2019 season. The real season.

It’s only days away.

It’s coming.

It’s coming whether the Dolphins are ready for it or not. And whether they’re ready or not, it will be a rebuilding season. It will be a reset season. Hate to say it, but it will probably be a painful season.

Look, the major story lines surrounding the Dolphins this training camp have been about who the team is picking as the starting quarterback and who the team is either trading away or trading for to clear out the old and bring in new.

Take the first part of that first. You know what kind of teams don’t have a starting quarterback decision well ahead of the fourth preseason game? Well, actually, the Dolphins are the only NFL team that entered the fourth preseason game without an announced regular-season starting quarterback.

Josh Rosen said he was told Ryan Fitzpatrick was the starter “before the game.”

Good teams want as much certainty as possible at the most important position. And they work very hard to gain that certainty as quickly as possible.

And the only team that didn’t get that certainty this offseason, training camp and into the fourth preseason game was the Dolphins. So that isn’t a good sign.

Coach Brian Flores announced Fitzpatrick is the starter after Thursday’s preseason finale. Fitzpatrick will start against Baltimore on Sept. 8. But I wouldn’t bet that will be permanent.

Both will probably start games for the team this season. In fact, Rosen said he’ll push Fitzpatrick every day to get better and if he doesn’t, “hopefully I surpass him at some point.”

Rosen also said “it’s only time this team is mine.”

And what I’m saying is the Dolphins needed longer than any other team to settle on a decision that’s more or less moot because neither guy played so amazing as to suggest he’ll be the guy throughout 2019.

That suggests the Dolphins aren’t going to be, you know, awesome.

What the Dolphins might actually be in the next few days is active. They will trim their roster to 53 players by Saturday and will be trying to find hidden gems other teams, better teams, have no room for on their much better rosters.

So those players will be candidates to join and improve the Miami roster. The Patriots, I remind you, have a lot of quality depth and after most of their 2018 draft class spent last season on injured reserve, they’ll struggle to fit both the ‘18 and ‘19 class onto the roster and still keep all their mid-level veterans.

So plucking some of those guys who know the New England system and thus the Miami system will be an opportunity.

Another opportunity will come in what the Dolphins do with or about Jadeveon Clowney. Here’s my take on this potential trade for the former first overall pick in the 2014 draft: I pass.

Clowney doesn’t really, really, really want to be in Miami even though the Dolphins want him enough to work with Houston on getting trade parameters in place to make it happen. If Clowney were actually into the idea he would have already signed his franchise tender, which allows the Texans to trade him.

But he so far hasn’t wanted to sign that tender because so far he hasn’t wanted to give up his leverage in the matter. And that leverage is meant to keep him from having to be in Miami.

So this is going to be a test.

Are the Dolphins willing to give up assets in a rebuilding year to trade for a player who might be a short-term rental and has already shown reservations about coming to the team?

A rebuilding year is no time to add a player like that.

Come to think of it, a year in which the team expects to win is no time to add a player with that kind of thinking. One more thing: The Dolphins lose whether they trade for Clowney or not.

If they land him, they get a guy who doesn’t want to be here. If they don’t land Clowney, the Dolphins have successfully alienated left tackle Laremy Tunsil who is known to be part of a potential Clowney trade.

Tunsil knows he’s part of the proposed trade, by the way, even though Flores said after this game that Miami has no trade in place that includes Tunsil.

Yeah, except Miami is actively discussing trading the team’s best offensive player. Even if the trade evaporates, Tunsil already knows where he stands with the team. The Dolphins didn’t sign him to a long-term contract this offseason and tried to trade him in the preseason.

Laremy Tunsil cannot love any of this.

So, yeah, this is a great way to handle things a week before the regular-season. Let the real games begin.

This story was originally published August 29, 2019 at 10:36 PM.