The Miami Dolphins continue to say that they have a 3-way competition for the starting QB position.  However, thus far it appears to be a 2 man race.  Matt Moore and David Garrard have split snaps with the first team offense since camp started. Rookie QB Ryan Tannehill joined the Dolphins’ training camp on Sunday for practice and has now attended 3 full days.  BUT, so far he has only been working with the 2nd team and rookie offenses.  Is Tannehill really being considered as a potential starter?  Or perhaps, are the Dolphins mixing him in slowly on purpose?  After all, Wednesday was the first time that Tannehill was practicing in pads (due to NFL rules).  Maybe he’ll get his shot today….stay tuned for an update later this morning.

According to just about every reporter at Dolphins camp, David Garrard has begun to separate himself from Matt Moore. This isn’t all THAT surprising because frankly, Garrard is more talented than Matt Moore.  Add this to the fact that Moore is a habitually poor practice player and you begin to see why Garrard has the lead in the QB competition.  The true tests will be when the exhibition games begin.  I suspect that Moore and Garrard will each get a chance to start the first 2 exhibition games.  If Tannehill starts getting some first team reps and performs well, he too might earn some time in-game with the 1st teammers.

Garrard has been the most consistent QB in camp and seems to be very comfortable in the Joe Philbin’s offense.  He has a good arm and is accurate, especially on short passes.  He struggles with the deep balls.  The biggest question for Garrard will be if he can stay healthy.  Remember, he missed the entire 2011 season with a back injury.  If he can regain the form of his Pro Bowl 2010 season, the Dolphins may be better than people think (most ‘experts’ have them winning 7 to 9 games).

I’ll be interested to see how Moore responds in the preseason games.  He’s known for being a ‘gamer’, so we’ll just have to wait and see.  Moore throws a better deep ball than Garrard, but his accuracy is not as good on the short passes (something required of a QB in Philbin’s offense).

As for Tannehill, he was great in his first 2 practices, but reports from Wednesday suggest that Tannehill struggled more than in the previous 2 days, especially when facing the blitz.  So, while some observers suggest that Tannehill has shown great improvement from OTAs and minicamps, he still has some work to do.  There is no denying that Tannehill knows this offense and has all of the tools to become a franchise QB.  The question, in my mind, is when, not if he will become the starter.  Now we just have to wait and see how long it takes…….

The HBO crew has been doing their thing at Dolphins camp, filming everything they can find.  One of the storylines that will be featured (shockingly) is the Dolphins QB competition.  Here is a brief preview from Hard Knocks (be sure to mute any ad videos!):