The Miami Dolphins are playing the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday with Quinn Ewers as their starting quarterback. The seventh-round rookie from Texas had taken 12 regular-season snaps in his NFL career before drawing the starting assignment for Miami’s 15th game of the 2025 season.

Steve Sarkisian, Ewers’ coach at Texas, is excited for his former quarterback’s opportunity. But he termed the change as “bittersweet” for him because he also coached the QB that Ewers replaced in the lineup, Tua Tagovailoa.

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“I’m excited for him,” Sarkisian said. “I said this after the draft. I don’t know if I said it to y’all. But once you don’t go in the first round or early in the second round, it’s kind of like you hope you go to a good place and a good system that fits you, especially at quarterback. And I said this coming out of the draft: I don’t know if there was a better fit for Quinn than going to Miami with (coach) Mike McDaniel. Systematically, the way he calls it and how it relates to what (Ewers) did here, the style in which the ball gets out of the quarterback’s hands, I just think it’s a good fit for Quinn.

“Obviously, he’s been doing some really good things behind the scenes in practice and things, so looking forward to his opportunity on Sunday to get his first career start. I’m sure he’ll do some really good things, and he’ll probably do some things that look like a guy making his first NFL start. But I know he’s excited.

“It’s a little bittersweet because I had Tua as well, you know. And so both those guys working together, I know they have a great relationship. But what a great opportunity for Quinn. And I think it just serves to it’s not always about when you get drafted, it’s what you do with your opportunity. And a credit to Quinn for working his tail off to earn this opportunity to be a starting quarterback in the NFL.”

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The Dolphins decided to bench Tagovailoa after a 25-18 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Monday night knocked Miami out of playoff contention.

Tagovailoa had served as the Dolphins’ starting quarterback when healthy in every game since the sixth contest of his rookie season after Miami picked him from Alabama at No. 5 in the 2020 NFL Draft.

Sarkisian worked as the offensive coordinator at Alabama in 2019, Tagovailoa’s final season with the Crimson Tide.