At least one Dolphins player doesn't believe that Tua Tagovailoa will be the team's long-term answer at quarterback.
An unnamed member of the Miami defense told Omar Kelly of the Sun Sentinel that Tagovailoa "can't make every throw" at the NFL level. Per the defender, that is going to make it very hard for the Dolphins to be competitive in the AFC.
“He’s only going to take us so far," the player said. "I’m wasting my career here if that’s what we’re doing.”
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Tagovailoa just finished his second year with the Dolphins. The No. 5 overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft led the Dolphins to a 7-5 record in 12 starts and threw for 2,653 yards, 16 touchdowns and 10 interceptions in his first full year as the starter.
The numbers don't look too bad, but Tagovailoa did hit some bumps in the road during the campaign. He dealt with injuries that limited him to just 12 starts and 13 appearances overall.
Tagovailoa also averaged just 6.5 air yards per attempt, which ranked 23rd among 33 qualified quarterbacks in 2021, and averaged the third-fewest passing yards per game (204.1) among quarterbacks that made at least 10 starts. The only players worse than him in that regard were rookies Zach Wilson (179.5) and Justin Fields (155.8).
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While Tagovailoa does have a career record of 13-8 as a starter, some of the Dolphins evidently don't believe that will last. In fact, one player expressed a desire to play with Deshaun Watson, who was a rumored target of the Dolphins before the 2021 NFL trade deadline.
“Watson’s an elite quarterback now,” the player told Kelly. “We’re ready to win.”
Acquiring Watson seems unlikely at this point. The embattled Texans quarterback wanted to come to Miami to play for Brian Flores, but the Dolphins fired Flores at the beginning of the offseason. He lost a power struggle with general manager Chris Grier, who was responsible for selecting Tagovailoa in 2020.
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As such, it seems likely that Miami will attempt to build around Tagovailoa during the final two-plus years of his rookie contract. However, while Dolphins owner Stephen Ross expressed confidence in Tagovailoa, he said that Tua's starter status would depend on what the new head coach thinks of him.
"He's a fine young man," Ross said of Tagovailoa, per SI.com. "He is right now our quarterback and that will be dependent upon the new head coach but I have a lot of confidence in Tua."
It still seems likely that the Dolphins will bring in a new head coach who plans to work to develop Tagovailoa, but perhaps some of the disgruntled players can convince the team to pursue some competition for the young passer.
