There’s been plenty of speculation centered around Tua Tagovailoa this offseason. The Dolphins’ 2020 No. 5 overall draft selection was the team’s starter for the majority of the season and — despite some of the narratives about his play — left Dolphins fans with plenty to be optimistic about regarding his long-term projection and forecast.
No, it wasn’t quite like playing at Alabama, where high-flying bombs were littered all over the field. And the adversity hit different at the NFL level, too; these are things Tagovailoa found out the hard way. But when his rookie season had come to a close, Tagovailoa had managed the Dolphins to a 6-3 record in his 9 starts and put up respectable statistics for any rookie quarterback.
The narrative is in part what it is because the quarterback selected immediately behind Tagovailoa, Justin Herbert, complete re-wrote the rookie passing records. But that is now out of Miami’s control and the Dolphins will assuredly be focused on themselves and bettering their offense for Tagovailoa.
A good place to start would be reviewing the dynamics that made some of Tagovailoa’s best plays happen on the field and position the team to allow those things to happen more often. Thankfully, the NFL’s social account has allocated all of Tagovailoa’s best plays from the 2020 season into one highlight video, which you can watch below.
The BEST plays from @Tua's rookie season! 🐬 pic.twitter.com/A4ISXYjBeU
— NFL (@NFL) February 26, 2021
The raw production from the offense wasn’t where Miami needed it to be down the stretch and the team will angle to make appropriate changes along the way this offseason. But you do see the flashes that made him a star at Alabama. How the Dolphins extrapolate that and make it the new normal is up for debate — and that is a question only the team will know the answer to.
But we’ll all be watching; as this is a critical window for the Dolphins organization to make the most of their big investment behind center.