Tua Tagovailoa is lighting it up at Dolphins practice
By John Buhler
Tua Tagovailoa shines in Miami Dolphins practice on Monday morning.
It seems like Tua Tagovailoa will be starting games for the Miami Dolphins before too long.
Tagovailoa was drafted No. 5 overall in the 2020 NFL Draft out of the University of Alabama. The left-handed quarterback from Hawaii has a chance to be the next Drew Brees in the NFL. When he throws the football, you’re not going to find a more beautiful spiral than the one coming out of Tagovailoa’s left hand. He’s already been turning heads in Dolphins practice and may start soon.
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How much longer before Tua Tagovailoa starts games for the Miami Dolphins?
The idea behind this season for the Dolphins was that veteran journeyman and last year’s starter Ryan Fitzpatrick would start most, if not all, the games this season. Miami went 5-11 last season in a year where the Dolphins were expected to go 0-16. Fitzpatrick is an inconsistent player, but one capable of giving his team a chance to win every fall Sunday he gets an opportunity to start.
As for Tagovailoa, he is more talented than Fitzpatrick but is coming off a major season-ending injury. He dislocated his hip in his final college game vs. the Mississippi State Bulldogs. This was the third and final significant injury of his three-year run at Alabama. Though he’s healthy enough to play at this time, Miami is not quite good enough for the Dolphins to feed him to the wolves.
Ideally, the Dolphins would want to take a page out of what the Kansas City Chiefs did with Patrick Mahomes in his rookie year out of Texas Tech University in 2017. Mahomes only started one game as a rookie and backed up Alex Smith for the first 15 games of the season. Though Tagovailoa isn’t as talented as Mahomes, the Dolphins are hoping he’ll be the heir apparent to Dan Marino.
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Completing 70-yard bombs to former service school option quarterback bodes well for Tagovailoa to push for playing time early in Chan Gailey’s offense. While Fitzpatrick had his best statistical season playing in Gailey’s system with the 2015 New York Jets, it’s only a matter of time before Tagovailoa wins the starting job and Fitzpatrick goes back to being a bearded clipboard holder.
It’s only preseason practice, but Tagovailoa might be the answer to the Dolphins’ prayers.