Even after former Alabama star quarterback Tua Tagovailoa was drafted by the Miami Dolphins as the 5th pick of the 2020 NFL Draft, many have continued to question and wonder if/when Tagovailoa would be able to play for the Dolphins.
For months, Tagovailoa has continued to tell, and do his best to show everyone that he’s truly 100% ready to go, and even his doctors have been nothing but amazed and positive about his recovery and how his hip has healed.
But still, Tagovailoa has had his doubters and critics who question if Tagovailoa is too fragile for the NFL, if he’ll be ready to start this season, and so on. And according to a report from Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald, the Dolphins aren’t opposed to playing Tagovailoa this season if he earns the opportunity at some point.
Jackson shares that:
“The expectation of Fitzpatrick starting the opener and beyond is based on the fact he has not only infinitely more experience than Tagovailoa, but five years of experience in offensive coordinator Chan Gailey’s system, and also the fact that Tagovailoa cannot do on-field work with Dolphins coaches because of the lack of an offseason program. But if Tagovailoa impresses coaches, they’re not at all opposed to playing him this season.”
Could we see Tagovailoa play his rookie year, or will the Dolphins choose to sit him out?
NFL Network analyst Brian Billick says:
“You have to draft him to play. Keep him on a 20 to 25 pitch count during the course of the game [as far as pass attempts, initially]. Convert on third down, run the ball and watch him mature.”
NFL Network’s Booger McFarland tends to agree:
“I truly can’t believe we continue to have this conversation about Tua and about redshirting. If the Miami Dolphins doctors cleared Tua, he needs to be on the football field. One of the most valuable things is having a young quarterback on a [reasonably priced four-year] rookie deal because it gives your franchise so much flexibility. You’ve got to put him on the field and get him playing.
The whole idea of redshirting? He’s going to go through growing pain; there’s going to be a learning curve. Why not go through that year one rather than year two, because if he sits all of year one, [then] year two is essentially his rookie year. So I’m not at all in favor of redshirting Tua. He needs to start sooner than later.”
And even former Giants quarterback Tim Hasselbeck agrees, and shared how Eli Manning became the quarterback he was based on playing time:
“If he is cleared by the doctors, and they say there is not more risk by him playing this season than next season, you have to take the gloves off and say it’s time to go, and let him get out there and learn and take hits and basically be like any other rookie that would really benefit from playing time. I think he would be prepared to play well in his rookie season.
Eli Manning’s backup his second and third years. Had Eli not played those nine games in his rookie season, he wouldn’t have been close to the player he was in year three because there was so much learning.”
Clearly, the decision will come down the the Dolphins, and what they feel most comfortable doing. It’s important to remember that the coronavirus situation has changed a lot of the normalcy of this time of the season. Tagovailoa is not getting the on-field work/coaching he would have had the coronavirus not taken the world by storm.
But, that doesn’t mean Tagovailoa won’t get his chance to play, or even shine, this season.
After all, all he needed was one game (actually, one half) his freshman year to prove he was Alabama’s go to guy at starting quarterback. In one night, he led Alabama to a national championship victory over Georgia, and sealed the deal as starting quarterback for the rest of his time at Alabama.
For the season, Tagovailoa threw for 2,840 yards, 33 touchdowns and 3 interceptions.
[lawrence-auto-related count=3]