The big Miami Dolphins personnel question of the summer has been answered: Skylar Thompson will be the backup quarterback.

The Dolphins have made that clear with the decision to release Mike White after he had served as the backup to Tua Tagovailoa in 2023. The news was confirmed by a league source Sunday morning.

The move was made despite the proposed rule change allowing practice squad quarterbacks to serve as the third emergency quarterback being rejected by the NFLPA, meaning the third emergency quarterback once again will have to be on the 53-man roster.

Releasing White will create $3.5 million of additional cap space for the Dolphins.

White now will be free to sign with any team, and the possibility certainly exists that the Dolphins could bring him back to the practice squad and maybe even to the 53-man roster at some point.

White had been listed as second team on the depth chart all summer, though it was Thompson who started at quarterback in the preseason opener against Atlanta and who came in first after Tagovailoa in the preseason game against Washington.

White got the start in the preseason finale against Tampa Bay but couldn’t lead the offense to any points, while Thompson shined after coming in late in the second quarter. He threw for two touchdowns and his passer rating was near 130 before he threw an interception on his final pass of the evening.

Thompson didn’t see any action in the 2023 regular season when Tagovailoa played every game for the first time in his NFL career and White himself got only mop-up duty.

In 2022, Thompson was the third quarterback behind Tua and Teddy Bridgewater and saw action in seven games with two starts — against the Minnesota Vikings in October and in the season finale against the New York Jets when the Dolphins won 11-6 to clinch a playoff spot. Thompson also started the playoff game at Buffalo that season and had an unsightly 44.7 passer rating that day, though he also wasn’t helped by dropped passes.

But Thompson was a rookie seventh-round pick back then and the Dolphins obviously feel confident he can handle the job as Tua’s main backup now.

“With Skylar, he got the opportunity to play early in his career and I thought, as a rookie, he demonstrated some aggressiveness and ability to make plays in this league,” McDaniel said after the preseason finale. “It’s been about, since then, training his craft and really owning the quarterback position within the offense and I thought this preseason, he’s exhibited growth and what that means. It means you are the leader of the unit, that you have to orchestrate play calls, decision making, all of those things, and I thought he took a good step forward tonight.”

Most impressively, the Herons have accomplished all this with Messi absent for nearly three months. Due to international duty and injury, the Argentine GOAT hasn’t played for his club since June 1, missing eight league matches – and Miami won seven of them, crafting a much sturdier collective and plumbing the squad’s lower reaches to gain key contributions from youngsters and role players.

As strong as Messi’s gravitational pull remains, both on and off the pitch, this team has learned how to win without their talisman. It’s a tribute to both Martino’s work and a far more balanced roster, overhauled on the fly by chief soccer officer and sporting director Chris Henderson.

All of this makes Messi’s impending return that much more exciting for IMCF and their supporters – and conversely, ominous for the rest of MLS.

“Leo, like I said the other day, I can’t tell you exactly what time, but he’s already on the field. He is working with his physical therapist, he’s out of the medical ward, he is training with a ball,” said Martino postgame.

“So he has to get back in shape or recover most of his fitness that any player loses when they are out for five or six weeks, and to feel confident that his injury is behind him. But it is something that I believe is not very far from happening.”

Inter Miami clinched a slot in the 2024 Major League Soccer playoffs after triumphing 2-0 over FC Cincinnati on Saturday night in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, thanks to two goals from Luis Suárez.

Despite a red card to Tomás “Toto” Avilés late in the first half at Chase Stadium, the South Florida side saw out the win in the second half against second-place Cincinnati.

Miami was again without Lionel Messi, who was watching on from the stands along with seven-time Super Bowl champion Tom Brady. Messi has featured in just 12 of Miami’s 26 MLS games this season and is still recovering from a ankle ligament injury suffered in Argentina’s win over Colombia in the Copa América final on July 14.

Miami coach Gerardo “Tata” Martino said Friday that Messi would return before the end of the regular season.

The Herons return to the postseason for the first time since 2022, after failing to qualify last year when concluding the campaign in 14th place on the Eastern Conference table with just 34 points in 34 games.

The top seven teams from each conference qualify automatically for the round one best-of-three playoff series, which kicks off on Oct. 26. Each series will see the higher seed host the first game, before playing the second away and returning for the third match if it’s necessary.

Inter Miami will host at least one playoff match at Chase Stadium.

Following the first round, the playoffs will take a break to accommodate the November FIFA international window before resuming play on Nov. 23 for the conference semifinals. MLS Cup will be held on Dec. 7 at the home of the higher-ranked participant.

Inter Miami now sits in first place in the Eastern Conference with 56 points in 26 games, extending its lead over Cincinnati to eight points. With eight regular-season matches left to play, Miami also leads the race for the 2024 Supporters’ Shield and has the possibility to set a new team points record.