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The Cleveland Browns, who have not had much of anything go right this season, might be catching a break for Sunday’s home finale against the Miami Dolphins.
That is because the Dolphins reportedly changed the injury status of quarterback Tua Tagovailoa from questionable to doubtful on Saturday afternoon.
Dolphins are downgrading Tua Tagovailoa to doubtful for Sunday’s game at Cleveland due to a hip injury, per sources. Tagovailoa still is pushing to play Sunday, but if he can’t, Tyler Huntley would be in line to replace him. pic.twitter.com/jhNzzouK5F
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) December 28, 2024
If it turns out that Tagovailoa is unable to go, the Dolphins are planning to start Tyler Huntley with Skylar Thompson serving as the backup after he was elevated from the practice squad.
The decision to sit Tagovailoa could be made easier based off the results of two of today’s games. The Dolphins, who are currently holding a slim chance at reaching the playoffs, will be eliminated if both the Los Angeles Chargers and Denver Broncos win their respective games.
Tagovailoa first hurt his hip during Miami’s Week 15 loss to the Houston Texans but finished the game and played in last week’s win against the San Francisco 49ers.
Huntley has made three starts this season while Tagovailoa was out with a concussion. The Dolphins are 1-2 with Huntley as the starter as he has thrown for 377 yards with one touchdown and one interception.
The start could be viewed as a “revenge game” for Huntley as he signed a free agent deal with the Browns in March only to be released in August. He was on the practice squad of the Baltimore Ravens to open the season before the Dolphins signed him in the wake of Tagovailoa’s third documented concussion of his NFL career.
When the schedule was released earlier this year, the NFL set this game as the marquee Sunday night matchup. The league flexed the game out of the primetime slot due to the Browns and the Dolphins both having disappointing seasons.
Now with the possibility of seeing Dorian Thompson-Robinson battling Huntley, who could be without starting wide receivers Tyreek Hill and Jaylan Waddle as both are questionable, it was probably wise of the league to not expose a national audience to what might be an ugly game of offensive football.