Tag: tua tagovailoa

Dolphins will have interest in Marcus Mariota, says NFL insider

The Dolphins are likely to pursue veteran quarterback Marcus Mariota in free agency, says ESPN’s Adam Schefter.

The Miami Dolphins’ lackluster backup quarterback situation proved to be a fatal flaw in 2024. ESPN’s Adam Schefter has already reported that the team will have its eye on one veteran as a possible solution.

After saying Monday that the Las Vegas Raiders could be the landing spot for impending free agent Marcus Mariota, Schefter added the Dolphins are also a strong possibility.

“I’ll tell you where else Marcus Mariota is going to be an option: in Miami with Tua [Tagovailoa] — his good friend Tua,” Schefter said on The Pat McAfee Show. “He’ll be an option there. So there could be a little bit of interest in Marcus Mariota between the Miami Dolphins and Chip Kelly and the Las Vegas Raiders. … He’ll have some interesting choices this offseason.”

Mariota, 31, spent the 2024 season with the Washington Commanders — his fourth team in as many seasons. The former No. 2 overall pick already had a two-year stint with the Raiders earlier in his career, but speculation of a potential return is linked to the addition of Chip Kelly, who coached Mariota for two years at Oregon, as the offensive coordinator in Las Vegas.

In 2024, Mariota took snaps in three games with the Commanders and finished the year with four touchdowns and no interceptions.

Earlier this year, Dolphins general manager Chris Grier told reporters that the team made an effort to sign a free agent passer in 2024.

“We were in on a number of topflight backup quarterbacks in the league,” Grier said. “We were runner-ups for a couple of them that we wanted to get here, and for some financial restraints and compensatory pick stuff, we just couldn’t go to those, to the prices. But all of those guys wanted to come here. It’s a position we do not take lightly.”

It wouldn’t be surprising if Mariota was one of the quarterbacks who talked with the Dolphins before opting to play elsewhere. Between the one-year, $6 million deal he signed and the opportunity to compete with a rookie for snaps, the Commanders offered opportunity and pay to Mariota that the Dolphins would’ve had a hard time matching.

While the urgency to address the quarterback depth has been raised for the Dolphins after backups went 2-4 in Tagovailoa’s absence last season, many of the same challenges could arise in 2025. The Raiders have significantly more salary cap space and no entrenched starter in place.

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Nick Wright floats wild trade idea to send Tua Tagovailoa to Rams

FS1’s Nick Wright has a wild idea to end the Dolphins’ playoff drought.

The Miami Dolphins are five years into the Tua Tagovailoa era and don’t have a playoff win. How much the 26-year-old quarterback is to blame depends on who you ask.

Nick Wright of FOX Sports thinks the Dolphins should take a wildly different approach to end their postseason drought, and he thinks the Los Angeles Rams could benefit from a big change too.

“I might call Miami and say [Matthew] Stafford for Tua,” Wright said. “If [the Rams are] thinking ‘We need to get younger at the position and probably draft a guy, but we don’t want to just immediately spin that roulette wheel.’ If [Sean] McVay is like ‘Man, I could do better with Tua than Mike McDaniel did.’

“And if the Dolphins are like ‘Man, we’ve got maybe one more year before Tyreek [Hill] burns the building down. We’re trying to win right now, we have all these weapons.’ If you’re Miami, it would be admitting defeat on Tua and trying to go win right now.”

Would the Dolphins, who just out a $212.4 million extension to Tagovailoa, even consider shipping the quarterback out West in exchange for a passer set to turn 37 in a couple weeks? Probably not.

The Rams are likely even less inclined to make the deal.

It’s hard to see why McVay would believe he could get more out of Tagovailoa than McDaniel. The quarterback led the NFL in passing yards in 2023 and posted the third best completion percentage ever in 2024. McDaniel has maximized Tagovailoa’s ability to be efficient, but that hasn’t saved Miami from the quarterback’s susceptibility to injuries and struggles against loftier competition.

Don’t count on Tagovailoa heading anywhere this offseason.

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Nick Wright proposes crazy Matthew Stafford trade, which would be terrible for the Rams

FS1’s Nick Wright proposed a Stafford-for-Tua trade, which would be a terrible deal for the Rams

Matthew Stafford has done exactly what the Los Angeles Rams brought him in to do: win a championship. Though the team came up short of its goal to win another ring this season, Stafford still gives Los Angeles the best chance to hoist the Lombardi Trophy again – even going on 37 years old.

Though there is some uncertainty about his future with the Rams due to his contract and eventual retirement, there’s reason to believe he’ll be back in Los Angeles in 2025. FOX Sports’ Nick Wright has another idea, though.

During “First Things First” on Tuesday, Wright pitched a wild QB-for-QB trade that would most certainly be viewed as a loss for the Rams. He floated the idea of the Rams trading Stafford to the Miami Dolphins for Tua Tagovailoa. No picks, no other players. Just those two.

“I have one one-for-one quarterback trade that I would put a phone call in on,” Wright said. “I might call Miami and say Stafford for Tua.”

First things first (pun intended), there’s a near-0% chance the Rams would ever make this call. Yes, Tagovailoa is 10 years younger, but he also just missed six games in 2024 and has only played more than 13 games once in his career. And while he did lead the NFL in passing yards in 2023, his numbers dropped off significantly this past season.

The Rams do need a succession plan behind Stafford but Tagovailoa isn’t it, nor would he be even remotely cheap; he just signed a $212.4 million contract last year and has cap hits between $53 million and $65 million from 2026-2028.

“If you’re thinking about, we need to get younger at the position and probably draft a guy, but we don’t want to just immediately spin that roulette wheel,” Wright continued. “If McVay is like, ‘Man, I can do better with Tua than Mike McDaniel did.’ And if the Dolphins are like, ‘Man, we’ve got maybe one more year before Tyreek burns the building down. Like we’re trying to win right now, we have all these weapons.’ If you’re Miami, it would be admitting defeat on Tua and just trying to go for it right now.”

It would be a great deal for the Dolphins, making them much stronger Super Bowl contenders in the AFC. There’s no doubt the Rams’ championship odds would worsen by acquiring Tagovailoa in a deal for Stafford.

Even 10 years his elder, Stafford is a significantly better quarterback than Tagovailoa now, and probably will be for the next two years.

Tua Tagovailoa told his dad he’d ‘die on the field’ rather than retire

Tua Tagovailoa’s father Galu says his son made it clear he has no plans of retiring due to concussion concerns.

After Tua Tagovailoa suffered multiple concussions during the 2022 season, the Miami Dolphins quarterback told reporters that he considered retiring before eventually deciding to return. But when he returned from the injured reserve in 2024 after missing four games due to a concussion, he said the opposite.

“This is what I love to do. This is what makes me happy, and I’m gonna do it. That’s it,” Tagovailoa told reporters in October.

According to Tua Tagovailoa’s father, his 26-year-old son was even more adamant when they talked about the issue in the fall.

“As a father, as a parent, it’s tough,” Galu Tagovailoa told ESPN Honolulu in an interview Thursday. “Tua’s now married, he has his own family. These are the tough decisions that he’s going to have to deal with in life. To decide whether he’s going to continue. The game is something that he loves.

“One of the things that I talked to him about when he was dealing with his concussion was ‘Hey, what do you think?’ And he was like ‘Dad, I love this game, and I’ll die on the field for this game.’ So that answers everything for me. But at the same time, as a father, you’re like ‘Man, you gotta take care of your health. That’s the most important thing.’ I have two beautiful grandkids. And that’s something that I’ve gotta talk to him about and for him to think about.”

According to Galu Tagovailoa, his son’s wife Annah has also encouraged Tua to think hard about his future beyond football.

“She’s all about his health,” Galu said. “She tells him ‘I want to live long with you. We’ve got to make sure we do the right thing.’ But Tua grew up in a way where everything is so competitive. He just doesn’t want to leave the game. He loves it.”

Tagovailoa missed the last two games of the 2024 season due to a hip injury, finishing the year with 19 touchdowns, seven interceptions, and a franchise-record 72.9 completion percentage. After the Dolphins finished with an 8-9 record and missed the playoffs, general manager Chris Grier told reporters that they stressed to Tagovailoa that “taking chances and risk is unacceptable.”

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Bills’ hype may be disproportionate, thanks to a weak AFC East

Each AFC East team not named the Buffalo Bills combined for a record of 17-34 in 2024. Talk about lack of competition.

While it might be unfair to shade the thriving Buffalo Bills, their AFC East division wasn’t the most competitive in 2024. Each AFC East team, not named the Bills, combined for a record of 17-34, which was a strong indicator and added emphasis to the statement above.

Still, the Bills ranked just No. 17 in opponent yards allowed per game, and none of their AFC East rivals ranked within the top 15 teams in the league in total yards per game. Bills defensive coordinator Bobby Babich can posture all he wants, the Bills better have an answer for Baltimore Ravens running back Derrick Henry or things can and will get out of hand fast in the AFC Divisional.

The New York Jets were a bust, the Miami Dolphins were mediocre, and I don’t think the typical NFL fan can name you any of the New England Patriots wide receivers. With six all-pro players on the roster, the Ravens should be easy favorites over the Bills. Again, however, NFL games aren’t played on paper.

Dolphins GM says Tua Tagovailoa taking health risks is ‘unacceptable’

Chris Grier says Tua Tagovailoa missing six and a half games is a huge reason the Dolphins came up short in 2024.

When Miami Dolphins general manager Chris Grier was asked Tuesday why the team’s 2024 season fell way short of expectations, he pinned some of the blame on Tua Tagovailoa’s inability to avoid injuries.

“Injuries happen, it is what it is, every team deals with it,” Grier said. “Our biggest one is obviously the quarterback. When he misses six and a half games and we miss it by a game getting into the playoffs — to me that’s the difference.”

Tagovailoa, 26, suffered a concussion early in the second half of a Week 2 game against the Buffalo Bills. That hit sent him to the injured reserve, which cost him four games. Later in the season, he suffered a hip injury that sidelined Tagovailoa for the last two games of the season.

In his absence, the Dolphins went 2-4 with Tyler Huntley and Skylar Thompson taking over starting duties.

“[Tagovailoa] needs to be available,” Grier said. “He needs to know how to protect himself. Like, you’re going to get hit at times, it’s always going to happen, but he needs to control what he can control.

“He understands that not being available for taking chances and risk is unacceptable to us. And he knows that.”

When Tagovailoa returned from IR in October, he said as much in his first press conference back.

“Just got to be smart,” the quarterback told reporters. “My entire time playing football, I’ve been a competitor and that is or was sort of my edge when I would run from high school, even in college I would do the same thing.

“But it’s a professional setting; this is the professional level, the best of the best, you just cant be doing that. So definitely got to stay more available for the team, for the organization, for our guys.”

In five seasons with the Dolphins, Tagovailoa has played more than 13 games in just one year. Multiple concussions cost him four regular season games and a playoff start in 2022, and he sat out four games in 2021 due to ribs and finger injuries.

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Tua Tagovailoa inactive, Jaylen Waddle back in Week 18 vs. Jets

The Dolphins will officially turn to Tyler Huntley to keep their playoff dreams alive in their regular season finale.

The Miami Dolphins will be without quarterback Tua Tagovailoa again Sunday, but they’ll have several other players back in the lineup for a Week 18 regular season finale against the New York Jets.

Wide receiver Jaylen Waddle, who sat out the team’s last two games is active, as is wide receiver Tyreek Hill, who was questionable due to a wrist injury and an illness that kept him out of practice Friday.

Offensive tackle Terron Armstead is also active. The veteran left tackle played last week against the Cleveland Browns, but played less than 50 percent of the Dolphins’ offensive snaps.

With kickoff 90 minutes away, here are the players ruled out by each team:

Dolphins inactives

  • QB Tua Tagovailoa
  • LB Anthony Walker Jr.
  • LB Mohamed Kamara
  • OL Andrew Meyer
  • OL Braeden Daniels
  • WR Dee Eskridge
  • WR Erik Ezukanma

Jets inactives

  • CB Michael Carter II
  • DL Phidarian Mathis
  • LB Jamin Davis
  • S Jaylin Simpson
  • OL Morgan Moses
  • EDGE Braiden McGregor
  • CB Jarrick Bernard-Converse

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Is Tua Tagovailoa playing today? Injury updates for Dolphins QB

Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa is dealing with a hip injury. Here are the latest updates.

Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa is doubtful for Week 18 due to a hip injury he suffered earlier this month. Tagovailoa was also doubtful last week for a game against the Cleveland Browns and was eventually listed as inactive.

Tagovailoa was limited in all three practices this week ahead of a regular season finale against the New York Jets.

Tua Tagovailoa injury update

Ian Rapoport of NFL Network said Sunday morning that Tagovailoa is “unlikely to play” against the Jets. That echoes what the Dolphins have been saying all week.

“We’ll approach it like ‘Snoop’ (Tyler Huntley) is starting,” Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel said Friday. It looks like the way that I approached the week was probably smart, I see it as unlikely that Tua will see any action.”

Similarly, Tagovailoa was more focused on being ready next week in the event that the Dolphins reach the playoffs.

“If the cards play out the way they should and the way we know and think they can, I’m going to be available next week,” Tagovailoa said. “There’s no ifs, ands or buts allowed. I’ll be playing. That’s for sure.”

Dolphins QB depth chart

Tyler Huntley, who has started four games for the Dolphins this season, is in line to start again Sunday. Miami is 2-2 in Huntley’s four games in the lineup, but the quarterback looked far more polished last week than he did in September and October.

The Dolphins also elevated third-year quarterback Skylar Thompson from the practice squad to make him available Sunday.

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Dolphins’ playoff hopes are in the hands of Carson Wentz, Tyler Huntley

The Dolphins are hoping a pair of backup quarterbacks can save their season.

The Miami Dolphins can reach the playoffs Sunday, but it sure doesn’t look likely.

If the Dolphins beat the New York Jets, they’ll improve to 9-8. That’ll only be good enough for a wild card berth if the 9-7 Denver Broncos lose to the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday. What makes that two-result scenario so improbable is that neither Tua Tagovailoa nor Patrick Mahomes are expected to play in Week 18.

The Dolphins are expected to put their season in the hands of Tyler Huntley, who is in line to start his fifth game of the season. The good news for Miami is that after struggling in his first three starts back in October, Huntley put together a strong performance last week against the Cleveland Browns. Even without Tagovailoa, a road victory against the 4-12 Jets is manageable.

Much less encouraging are the Chiefs’ chances against the Broncos.

On Friday, Kansas City announced that Mahomes and several other key players — including Travis Kelce and Chris Jones — aren’t likely to play Sunday.

With the three-time Super Bowl MVP out of action, it’ll be Carson Wentz who is tasked with keeping Denver from reaching the postseason.

Wentz, 32, was once an MVP candidate early in his career with the Philadelphia Eagles. But after leading the league in interceptions in 2020, his final season with the Eagles, Wentz has settled into an NFL journeyman role. The Chiefs are his fifth team in as many years.

During the 2023 season, Wentz started a Week 18 game for the Los Angeles Rams when they opted to rest their starters. While he led LA to a 21-20 win against the San Francisco 49ers, he did so against a team that also started its backups.

Wentz won’t get the same luxury against a Broncos squad that will be fighting for its playoff life. That’s why the 15-win Chiefs are an 11-point underdog.

The playoffs aren’t impossible for the Dolphins, but their chances rest on a pair of backups putting together vintage performances Sunday.

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Tua Tagovailoa doubtful, Tyreek Hill questionable vs. Jets

Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle are among the questionable players for the Dolphins in Week 18.

Tua Tagovailoa is doubtful for a Week 18 game against the New York Jets and receivers Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle are among the Miami Dolphins players who are questionable.

“I see it as unlikely that Tua will see any action,” Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel said earlier in the day Friday.

Hill has been a mainstay on the injury report in 2024 due to a wrist injury suffered in August. While an illness was added to his designation Friday, the receiver has been questionable four previous times this season and hasn’t yet missed a game.

“I would say I’m feeling optimistic,” McDaniel said of Waddle. “So we’ll see what today uncovers but I’m feeling good barring no setbacks.”

Here’s the full injury report for both teams heading into a Week 18 game at the Jets’ MetLife Stadium:

Dolphins injury report

Out

  • LB Anthony Walker Jr. (knee)

Doubtful

  • QB Tua Tagovailoa (hip)

Questionable

  • OT Terron Armstead (knee)
  • DL Calais Campbell (neck)
  • WR Dee Eskridge (finger)
  • WR Tyreek Hill (wrist/illness)
  • S Jevón Holland (wrist)
  • WR Jaylen Waddle (knee)

Jets injury report

Out

  • CB Sauce Gardner (hamstring)

Doubtful

  • DL Leki Fotu (doubtful)

Questionable

  • TE Tyler Conklin (calf)
  • OL Morgan Moses (knee)
  • OL Alijah Vera-Tucker (ankle)
  • DL Quinnen Williams (hamstring)

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