MIAMI GARDENS — It doesn’t qualify as a quarterback controversy — not in August and not with the starting QB obvious — but the Miami Dolphins have something on their hands you don’t often see in their training camps.

A quarterback competition.

Tua Tagovailoa is entrenched as the starter. We all know that. Behind him are Mike White and Skylar Thompson. Or, at least that’s the way it was ordered all of last season.

But now?

Things are murkier. That much is known.

“It’s neck and neck, and far from me even thinking about who’s going to win that job,” coach Mike McDaniel said Wednesday.

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That’s where Friday night’s preseason opener against the visiting Atlanta Falcons could come in. We shouldn’t expect to see Tagovailoa in this game. There’s a good chance we’ll see no more than a cameo, if that, from Tagovailoa in any of the three preseason outings.

That leaves ample opportunities for White and Thompson to stake their claim to the No. 2 job and with it, a spot on the active roster on Sundays. The No. 3 or “emergency” QB suits up but only becomes active if the first two players are forced out of the game. Last season, that was Thompson every week, whereas White had brief roles in six games.

“That competition is, I think, something I’m very proud of in that those two competitors really gave it their best shot last year, and I thought it was a pretty close race with Mike winning it,” McDaniel said. “They’ve continued to develop their games, so they continue to do really good things, and each individual, I think is better than where they were last year.”

With this being early August, separating the two is based on the eye test rather than statistical evidence, but Thompson has made more plays in 11-on-11 drills than White and moved the offense downfield with more regularity.

Thompson, entering his third NFL season, said he’s “not thinking about the little, tedious things of the offense” the way he did as a rookie.

“It kind of is just second nature to me,” he said. “In some ways, shapes or forms, allows me to play faster and that’s what I felt so far this camp. And just being able to move on to the second-, third-level things of this offense, not just learning the formations and shift rates and motions, all that type of stuff.”

Mike White had extra reps during Tua Tagovailoa's hold-in

White, too, has been able to dive deeper into the offense during Tagovailoa’s brief hold-in until his contract was hammered out. Many of the reps Tagovailoa would have taken were in White’s hands.

“It’s nice,” White said. “Come season time, QB1 gets all the season reps, as it should be because he has to be ready to go. So it’s nice to throw to those guys and work with the 1-0 line.”

The arrival of preseason games changes dynamics, even in this era in which coaches stress joint workouts more.

“One of the tricky things are solving the problems of preseason games in terms of you want to get guys opportunities,” McDaniel said.

When it comes to quarterbacks, it’s not just snap counts but the right snap counts.

McDaniel explained: “They’re also playing with different players and against different defenses, that your corresponding play calls are different. So how do you make the opportunities as equal as possible? Well, for me, I try to create a scenario where they get to work with the same players that are blocking and the same players that are receiving routes or getting handoffs.”

McDaniel wants the QBs to be able to develop rhythm and have “some ownership of the game.” To date, he has preferred to have QBs split up reps in each preseason game rather than have one go the distance in one game and the other go wire-to-wire the next week.

For what it’s worth, Thompson posted better numbers last preseason, going 40-of-62 for 396 yards, three touchdowns, four interceptions and a passer rating of 71.7. White, injured late in camp, was just 9-of-14 for 85 yards, no TDs and one INT for a 51.2 rating.

In the end, White’s experience probably was the deciding factor. He’s 29, two years older than Thompson, and has appeared in 14 career games with a 75.7 rating compared to Thompson’s seven games played and 62.2 rating. White also survived four seasons in the fishbowl that is the New York Jets, although one year was spent on the practice squad.

White also has the bigger contact, working on the second year of a two-year, $8 million deal whereas Thompson’s deal is just shy of $1 million.

Dolphins reporter Hal Habib can be reached at hhabib@pbpost.com. Follow him on social media @gunnerhal.

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NFL Preseason

Falcons at Dolphins

Friday, 7 p.m.

TV: WHDT, next-day replay by subscription on NFL+

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Tua Tagovailoa's backup a close call as Miami Dolphins enter preseason