It wasn't about money for Garrard, but that the Dolphins were 0-4. (US PRESSWIRE)

Posted by Ryan Wilson

Dolphins quarterback Chad Henne played surprisingly well through the first four weeks of the season. Unfortunately, the shoulder injury he suffered against the Chargers Sunday will keep him out for the rest of the year. Which meant that Miami was in the market for a backup quarterback behind newly elevated starter Matt Moore.

The team reached out to NFL veterans David Garrard and Jake Delhomme earlier this week and were told "thanks but no thanks" by both.

The Dolphins finally settled on Sage Rosenfels. Conventional wisdom (based on what Garrard's agent had told multiple outlets) was that Miami wasn't offering Garrard enough to get off his couch. Turns out, it wasn't about the money.

Details via the Miami Herald's Armando Salguero:

I am hearing from multiple team sources that, in fact, the reason Garrard is not on the Dolphins today has nothing to do with money. I'm told that if Garrard wanted his base salary guaranteed, the Dolphins would have done that. I'm told that although reports are Garrard would have played for $1 million, the club might have gone to three times that amount and "probably" paid it.

I'm told that the reason the Dolphins didn't get Garrard is, in fact, because he simply didn't feel like playing right now. Garrard apparently talked to the team and showed no great desire to play. He is, according to this version of the story, quite content sitting out this season, spending time with his family, and hitting free agency next March.

Salguero writes that this account makes more sense than the version previously being pushed -- namely, that the Dolphins were too cheap to pay Garrard, which could be interpreted as the organization giving up on the season after a month.

And while Garrard wanting to spend more time with his family is admirable, there's still more to the story.

"Garrard sure enough wasn't all that enthusiastic about playing right now -- but mostly because the team that came calling has such little chance of winning as the 0-4 Dolphins do," Salguero explains. "If, say, the 3-1 New England Patriots suddenly lost Tom Brady and needed a starting QB, he'd be on a plane in a heartbeat."

So the Dolphins settled on Rosenfels who, according to coach Tony Sparano will serve as Moore's backup. “Yeah, it’s Matt’s job," Sparano said. "We’ve got to get Matt ready to go."

In case you're wondering, Miami also worked out Kellen Clemens, JP Losman, Jim Sorgi, and Charlie Frye before settling on to Rosenfels.

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