Dolphins defender on playing with Tua Tagovailoa: ‘Wasting my career’

A Miami Dolphins defender took an anonymous shot at Tua Tagovailoa, who he hopes isn’t the future signal-caller in South Beach.

The former first-round pick out of Alabama is far from a unanimous choice to come back as Dolphins starting quarterback next season.

To be fair, Tagovailoa hasn’t shown a ton of promise in his first few NFL seasons, instead making incremental improvements. That sort of pace is no longer allotted in today’s NFL, and the Dolphins haven’t seen enough from Tua to allow him to enter the offseason as the comfortable starting QB in Miami.

Even Tagovailoa’s own teammates, including one prominent defender, feel as though they can only go so far with the Alabama product as their starting quarterback.

“He can’t make every throw,” a Dolphins defender told Omar Kelly of the Sun-Sentinel (behind paywall). “He’s only going to take us so far. I’m wasting my career here if that’s what we’re doing!”

Miami Dolphins: Any other options at quarterback?

The Dolphins have long been linked to Houston Texans starting quarterback Deshaun Watson, but considering the number of civil suits against him for sexual assault, it’s unlikely they’d make a move until his name is cleared.

Not to mention, Watson’s infatuation with the Dolphins could be paired with former head coach Brian Flores, who the team surprisingly fired after missing the playoffs this season. Flores was considered an up-and-comer in the industry, and now could be closer to becoming Watson’s next coach in Houston than Deshaun is to landing in Miami.

Miami’s front office seems to have more belief in Tagovailoa than some of their own players do. That’s not a recipe for success, and perhaps something they ought to resolve before the start of next season, one way or another.