The Miami Dolphins announced yesterday afternoon that they were waiving QB Jake Rudock, leaving the Dolphins with three quarterbacks on their roster entering 2020 training camp. Between Ryan Fitzpatrick, Josh Rosen and Tua Tagovailoa, the Dolphins’ quarterback room has plenty of talent — but the team having three available passers entering training camp calls to question the availability of QB Tua Tagovailoa.
Tagovailoa recently declared himself “ready to go” for the 2020 season — and if Miami is willing to enter training camp with just three quarterbacks on the roster, then the team may agree with him. Teams typically carry “camp quarterbacks” to help with the workload of passes thrown around during the preseason workload — if Tagovailoa was going to be limited at the start of camp, then Miami would only have Fitzpatrick and Rosen available to throw passes.
One thing the decision to cut Rudock seems to indirectly suggest is that the more aggressive timetables for Tagovailoa appear to be materializing well — that despite suffering from a dislocated hip in November of 2019, the No. 5 overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft may well be ready to take the field with the team with minimal restrictions on him. And if that is the case, then the quarterback battle for the Dolphins is sure to get interesting in a hurry. Yes, Ryan Fitzpatrick is a well-seasoned veteran with experience playing under Chan Gailey.
But if Tagovailoa is “as advertised”, his football instincts are something that will allow him to push for a starter’s role early in this process. Brian Flores and company will not care about the public opinion, but there will certainly be a push from those who follow and cover the team to see Tagovailoa if he’s healthy — too.
Ultimately, cutting Rudock may not mean anything regarding the timetable of “no restrictions” on Tua Tagovailoa. But it would certainly seem, on the surface, to be a promising omen that when Miami finally does strap on the pads to ramp up for the coming season, Tagovailoa will be full steam ahead.