Being a rookie quarterback in the NFL is insanely hard in the first place, now add in a head coach who makes it known he didn’t want to draft you and doesn’t like you. Such was the reality for former Alabama Crimson Tide quarterback Tua Tagovailoa.
After one of the most remarkable collegiate careers ever, the Miami Dolphins used the No. 5 pick in the 2020 NFL draft on Tagovailoa. The Dolphins coach at the time, Brian Flores, never seemed to fully buy in on Tua. Flores was more so interested in the idea of bringing in Tom Brady or trading for Deshaun Watson.
During his two years with Flores, Tagovailoa was in and out of the lineup and was even benched in the middle of multiple fourth quarters. Despite no consistency at all, he was able to go 13-8 as a starter completing 66.2% of his passes for 4,467 yards and 27 TDs to 15 INTs.
Following the 2021 season, the Dolphins relieved Flores of his duties to hire one of the best young offensive minds in football Mike McDaniel. Since taking over in Miami, McDaniel has praised of Tagovailoa’s abilities saying he’s one of the best and most accurate quarterbacks in the whole league. The Dolphins backed up that talk as they extended Tua this off-season to a four-year deal worth $212.4 million, $167.1 being guaranteed.
Despite Tagovailoa’s obvious dislike for Flores he has always done a great job biting his tongue about the situation. That was until he appeared on the Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz this week and he spoke candidly of how he was treated saying,
“I don’t care who you are. You could be the president of the United States, you have a terrible person telling you things that you don’t want to hear or probably shouldn’t be hearing, you’re going to start believing that about yourself. And so that’s what sort of ended up happening. It was, it’s basically been what two years of training that out of not just me but a couple of guys as well that have been here my rookie year all the way until now.”
The Dolphins have a real chance to compete for an AFC title this year, and things have never looked better for Tua. With all the support he needs in the building and all contract talks resolved, it is time to just go play ball.
“If you woke up every morning and I told you that you suck at what you did, that you don’t belong, that you shouldn’t be here, that you haven’t earned this…
and then someone come and tells you, ‘You are the best fit for this…How you that make you feel?”
– @Tua describes the… pic.twitter.com/bBHI6IsVlj
— Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz (@LeBatardShow) August 19, 2024
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