The Miami Dolphins have received nearly universal praise for their decision to take a leap of faith and draft quarterback Tua Tagovailoa with the No. 5 overall selection in the 2020 NFL Draft. The bigger surprise, despite Miami’s smokescreens all throughout the winter, was the team’s decision to hold firm and not trade up in the draft to land their quarterback — not that the team drafted the gifted Alabama passer.
And now, despite Tagovailoa’s questionable status for early in his rookie season due to a November 2019 hip injury, the projections have begun. The biggest question of all is whether or not Miami will get Tagovailoa on the field sooner rather than later — but no matter when he steps behind center for his first official snaps, Dolphins fans have plenty to be excited about.
Pro Football Focus analyst and former NFL defensive back Solomon Wilcots recently outlined what each team with a new quarterback has to look forward to and his words for Tagovailoa speak for themselves.
“In Tua, the Dolphins have a proven leader and a promising talent, and his upside is bolstered by his familiarity with the operations of a pro-style offense. While in Tuscaloosa, Tua often demonstrated his ability to set protections, checking out of less favorable plays and quickly communicating and coordinating a more effective alignment,” wrote Wilcots.
“The 2018 Heisman nominee showed poise against the blitz pressure throughout his college career and took a sack on just 12.5% of those pressured drop-backs. He also recorded only 24 turnover-worthy plays during his entire three-year college career, which spanned 753 drop-backs.”
There’s no question Tagovailoa brings an intangibles factor to the table that Miami has not seen behind center in quite a while. If he’s able to capture that lightning in a bottle and create the right mix of aggressiveness with keeping his offense “on schedule”, the Dolphins should be all set to transition out of quarterback purgatory for the foreseeable future.