The QB competition for the starting job is wide open for the Miami Dolphins this season.  Josh McCown, John Beck and Chad Henne are all on even ground heading into training camp.  Josh McCown might seem to be the logical choice to start at the beginning of the season based on experience, but the Dolphins won’t be contending for the Super Bowl this year so the Fins might elect to go with one of the youngsters.  McCown is a big guy and he can run the ball when needed.  He’s bounced around the league for a few year’s now without establishing himself as a starter anywhere.  McCown played in 9 games (all starts) for the Raiders last season and he completed 111 of 190 passes (58.4%) for 1,151 yards with 10 TD passes and 11 interceptions (69.4 QB Rating).  He also carried the ball 29 times for 143 yards (4.9 ypc) last season.  McCown has not really improved in his career as he’s a lot like he was when he came into the league.  He can start on a bad team (like the Dolphins) but he won’t bring up the level of the play around him.  McCown has now played in 44 games (31 starts) in his NFL career and he has completed 609 of 1,052 passes (57.9%) for 6,582 yards with 35 TD passes and 40 interceptions (71.6 QB Rating).  McCown has also carried the ball 123 times for 572 yards (4.7 ypc) with 3 TD runs. 

John Beck was put into a tough situation last year as he was thrown to the wolves and the results weren’t pretty.  Beck played in 5 games (4 starts) for the Dolphins and he completed 60 of 107 passes (56.1%) for 559 yards with 1 TD pass and 3 interceptions (62.0 QB Rating).  Beck also carried the football 9 times for 12 yards (1.3 ypc) with 1 TD run.  But, he fumbled the ball 7 times, losing 5 of them.  In defense of Beck, much of the time he was playing was when Ronnie Brown was out due to injury.  Still, he will need to show a ton of improvement in training camp and the pre season to beat out McCown and Henne for the starting job in 2008.

Chad Henne is a very polished QB as he was a 4-year starter at Michigan.  He also has a edge because he was drafted by the new regime in town.  It would be a surprise to see Henne win the starting job when the season starts but he might be the guy under center during the 2nd half of the season.

PROJECTED GRADE FOR 2008:  D