Why Zach Wilson was a ‘calculated target’ for Dolphins

The Dolphins were strategic about who they wanted as a backup for quarterback Tua Tagovailoa in 2025.

Head coach Mike McDaniel explained that the team spent a “considerable amount of time” studying Zach Wilson before signing the former No. 2 overall pick to a one-year deal last month.

“To be quite frank, it’s an inexact science, but we thought he was the best option for us,” McDaniel said when asked about his confidence in Wilson while at the NFL league meetings in Palm Beach, Fla. this week. “I think he was very much — I guess you guys wouldn’t know this, I guess you guys are flying blind so let me help you out (laughter) — he was a direct calculated target.

“We thought that was a way that the Miami Dolphins could get better and are excited to see how he seizes that opportunity.”

Wilson, 25, spent last season with the Broncos, but he didn’t play a snap in Denver after losing the starting quarterback competition to Bo Nix, the No. 12 overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft.

The BYU product served as the Jets’ starter during his first three seasons before inconsistent play led to him being traded to the Broncos.

McDaniel went on to praise Wilson for how he handled himself as a high draft pick by the Jets in 2021, and taking on the starting role that season.

“This was something that was on our mind for a considerable amount of time and it goes back to everybody has a different circumstance… I watched every snap of his collegiate play, and he was a phenomenal talent that in my opinion didn’t have reps in an NFL pocket yet,” McDaniel said. “Like at BYU he was launching it from about 10 and 11 yards deep and you’re not in the phone booth, and so my estimation, there was going to be some nuanced growth to his game that I think it is close to impossible to excel that early in that new form of football that he was playing.

“That’s powerful to me in that there’s very few people that know what it’s like to be drafted high in New York City, and so then to see his resolve, to see where he’s digested the whole situation. It’s like anything for all of us; if you have adversity in your life, that can be a source of strength and growth, or it could be a source of all right, that’s what defines you and you can’t get over that.

“What I see in Zach is the experience of being the second pick in the draft, being the starter Week 1 and then not fulfilling the rookie contract; that is behind him. So to me, that’s an exciting prospect because you can’t put a measurement on that human ability that is huge at the quarterback position.”

Wilson has completed 57 percent of his career passes for 6,293 yards with 23 touchdowns and 25 interceptions.

McDaniel added that Tagovailoa had success within the Dolphins’ current culture and system.

“Not comparing the players at all — on the record, not comparing the players — Tua [Tagovailoa] found that this environment helped him through that process,” McDaniel said. “As coaches, we want to offer literally everything to his game and I’m excited about where he’s at based upon him.”