Jacksonville poaches one of Miami’s backup quarterbacks

The Miami Dolphins are shopping for quarterback help yet again.

On Wednesday the Dolphins lost their practice squad quarterback C.J Beathard, who was added two weeks ago, and replaced Tim Boyle.

Beathard, an eight-year veteran who has history with Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel from their time together in San Francisco, was poached off the practice squad by the Jacksonville Jaguars, who added the former University of Iowa standout to its 53-man roster.

Miami could have blocked the move, but that would have required the Dolphins elevate Beathard to its 53-man roster, and the Dolphins seemingly don’t have the space, or desire, to do so.

Losing Beathard to Jaguars, the franchise he last played for, means the Dolphins must add a quarterback before Thursday’s practice or there will be nobody available to run the scout [or looks] team, which is what prepares the first-team defense for the upcoming opponent, which happened to be the Los Angeles Rams.

The Dolphins regained starting quarterback Tua Tagovailoa two weeks ago, when he returned from an injured reserve stint caused by a concussion he suffered in Week 2.

Miami also regained Skylar Thompson as the team’s top backup two weeks ago when his broken ribs healed enough for him to be cleared to practice without limitation.

Tagovailoa and Thompson’s return coincided with Tyler “Snoop” Huntley, who started three games for Miami, being sidelined by a injury to his throwing shoulder he suffered in Miami’s 16-10 loss to the Indianapolis Colts.

Huntley is on injured reserve, and will miss at least two more games, and that’s if he hasn’t undergone a season-ending surgical procedure to repair his shoulder injury.

It’s quite possible that the Dolphins could re-sign Boyle, who appeared in two games for the Dolphins this season, both in relief roles, and completed 15 of 26 passes for 153 yards.

Boyle was released from the 53-man roster on Oct. 26 and not re-signed to the practice squad because Miami was giving Beathard, an eight-year veteran, his role. Now that Beathard is gone, Miami could return to Boyle, or they might kick the tires on someone completely new. However, pickings are slim because many of the NFL’s decent backups are already on a team’s practice squad.

The Dolphins generally have leaned on quarterbacks that have familiarity with the west coast offensive system that McDaniel learned under former Denver Broncos and Washington coach Mike Shanahan, which is run by teams like the Los Angeles Rams, Houston Texans, Cincinnati Bengals, San Francisco 49ers and others.