Tua Tagovailoa: Is he staying with the Miami Dolphins long-term?
In the Wild Card round of the 2023 NFL Playoffs earlier this month, the then-No. 6-seeded Miami Dolphins got dominated by the No. 3 Kansas City Chiefs, who earned a 26-7 win at home.
Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa struggled against the Chiefs, completing just 20 of his 39 passes for 199 yards, one touchdown and one interception. The Chiefs did everything they could to stop Tyreek Hill and it worked; Hill even jokingly tweeted after the game that Chiefs cornerback LaJarius Sneed, “jammed my ahh to cancun” after a clip of Hill getting jammed at the line.
Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniels did mention the Chiefs schemed to prevent the deep ball and it shouldn’t represent Tua’s game. Tagovailoa had the best season of his career, taking the Dolphins to 11 wins, throwing for 4,624 passing yards, 29 touchdowns and 14 interceptions, the most of his career.
This loss left many questions surrounding Tua and the Dolphins. Is Tagovailoa the franchise quarterback? Dolphins general manager Chris Grier certainly thinks so, despite having no extension deal sealed for Tagovailoa yet.
“The goal is to have him here long term playing at a high level,” Grier said, according to ESPN’s Marcel Louis-Jacques. “That’s always the goal, and we’ll continue to communicate with him through the offseason here. Like we’ve always said in the past, you guys know me, we don’t really talk in the media through all that stuff, so we’ll just keep all those talks internal and with his reps.”
Truthfully, Tagovailoa’s ceiling is capped, and the Dolphins shouldn’t extend him. His lack of arm strength and ability to rush the ball caps his game.
As well as his significant injury history, the Dolphins should trade him and get draft capital. If the Dolphins want to keep Tagovailoa, they will need to adjust the play style. The deep passes are fun and all, but when it’s the only weapon, defenses can plan for it. Then it leaves the team with nothing. Therefore, if the Dolphins want success, they will need to find a better style.
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