The Miami Dolphins’ search for a franchise quarterback in life after Dan Marino has been extensive and, quite frankly, exhausting. This team has “gone cheap” and passed on 1st-round quarterbacks in favor of 2nd-round selections being invested in the likes of A.J. Feeley (2004), John Beck (2007), Chad Henne (2008), Pat White (2009) and Josh Rosen (2019) and seen none of those investments work out. When the team finally did find some conviction on a quarterback, they drafted Ryan Tannehill in the 1st-round of the 2012 NFL Draft and got several 4,000 yard passing seasons out of him — before committing additional missteps by failing to address the offensive line or add competition to the quarterback room behind Tannehill to facilitate additional growth.
But Miami’s biggest mistake at the quarterback position came in 2006, when the team decided to balk at signing quarterback Drew Brees in the offseason on account of an injury to Brees’ throwing shoulder. The medical professionals told then-Dolphins coach and the team’s decision makers that Brees faced a 20% chance of full recovery from the injury — and instead Miami pivoted in another direction.
There lies the biggest lesson Miami must now illustrate wisdom from having endured:
“It is better to have swung and missed than to never have swung at all.”
The Dolphins are facing an opportunity to draft a quarterback this offseason who has been compared by many to Drew Brees in Alabama’s Tua Tagovailoa. The precision passing, higher level understanding of the field and quick release all parallel strengths of Brees. And Tagovailoa, too, brings medical red tape to the table thanks to a dislocated hip.
How would the Dolphins process passing on Tua and watching him become a star elsewhere, rewarding another team for having faith where the Dolphins did not? After seeing Brees shred the passing records in New Orleans, it would be the ultimate gut punch to experience it all over again because Miami got cold feet when Tagovailoa is clearly a player that they covet.
But just drafting Tagovailoa doesn’t excuse the Dolphins from learning from their lessons — drafting Tagovailoa is simply the first step. Because all those mistakes the Dolphins made with Ryan Tannehill? They’ll come back to bite the Dolphins again unless this team commits heavily to invest in a top-tier offensive line. Even if it means continuing to swing the bat in free agency and early in the draft until it gets right. And even then, Miami will need to assess their quarterback room and make there there’s enough pressure and competition to force someone to rise to the top and take the steps Ryan Tannehill never could in Miami.
It could be Tagovailoa. It could be Josh Rosen. It could be another quarterback yet to be drafted down the road. But if the Dolphins want to solve this quarterback situation after two decades without Dan Marino, that’s the path.
- Don’t get cold feet if you love Tagovailoa based on some medical adversity (Drew Brees, 2006)
- Commit to investing in a high-end offensive line (Tannehill, 2012-2019)
- If your quarterback’s growth plateaus, add additional competition to the room and let the best man win (Tannehill, 2015-2019)
[vertical-gallery id=420193]