The Miami Dolphins will start veteran quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick on the road Sunday against the San Francisco 49ers, the team announced Tuesday.
The calls are growing for the Dolphins (1-3) to turn to rookie Tua Tagovailoa, but coach Brian Flores said Monday he won’t be pressured into making the change,
Tagovailoa, the No. 5 overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft, is coming off of surgery for a hip injury he suffered while playing for Alabama last season. He has yet to take a snap for the Dolphins.
“He’s checked all the boxes from a medical standpoint,” Flores said of the rookie on Monday. “He has. Look, the honest thing for me is if it was my kid, and he had a serious injury like that, I wouldn’t want his coach to throw him in there because of media pressure or anything like that. That’s kind of how I approach this situation and really all situations. The players, essentially, they are my kids. So no one is going to pressure me into doing anything. When we feel like he’s ready to go, we’ll put him in.”
Fitzpatrick has completed 69 percent of his passes for 994 yards with four touchdowns and five interceptions. The 37-year-old is in his 16th season.
Tagovailoa has been active all four games and listed as the No. 2 quarterback.
