NFL Draft 2012: Miami Dolphins Must Pursue QB After Whiffing on Peyton Manning

The NFL's high-stakes game of "quarterback musical chairs" is drawing to a close, with the Miami Dolphins still struggling to find a seat.

And likely forced to find a new signal caller—their 17th since Dan Marino's retirement—in the 2012 NFL draft.

First, the 'Fins were spurned by Peyton Manning, who lopped them off his wish-list after a visit to South Beach last week. Then, Matt Flynn, whom the team had hoped to snag via free agency, followed suit, spurning Miami's offer for a similar one with the Seattle Seahawks.

Now, it looks as though the Dolphins will wind up with little more than a "golden sombrero" on the open market, as Alex Smith, with whom they met over the weekend, slinks back to San Francisco as the 49ers' fallback following Manning's decision.

All of which leaves Dolphins GM Jeff Ireland and the rest of the front office with at least one big question to answer in the coming months:

Do we stand pat with Matt Moore at quarterback, or do we select a young signal-caller in the upcoming draft?

Moore performed well for Miami last season. The journeyman stepped in after Chad Henne went down with a shoulder injury and led the Dolphins to six wins in 13 games, with four of the seven defeats decided by three points or fewer.

By no means was Moore spectacular, though he did manage to throw more touchdowns (16) than interceptions (nine) and complete 60.5 percent of his passes while energizing Tony Sparano's moribund offense.

Of course, Sparano is no longer around, having since been replaced by former Green Bay Packers offensive coordinator Joe Philbin. Whether Philbin and his staff are comfortable moving forward with Moore under center remains to be seen.

And, to be fair, the two options posed in the question above aren't necessarily mutually exclusive. The 'Fins could just as easily draft a quarterback—either at No. 8 or later on, should they decide to trade down for Ryan Tannehill or one of the other second-tier signal-callers—and keep Moore aboard to allow whichever rookie who comes in to hold the clipboard for a time.

Whatever the Dolphins end up doing, it's clear that the search for a more permanent heir to Marino's throne is far from over, though, frankly, a 36-year-old, sore-necked Peyton Manning wouldn't exactly have been the quarterback of the future either.

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