As a fan base, we’re all excited about the selection of Tua Tagavailoa. Finally, it seems like a break for a franchise that has been looking for Quarterback for two decades. For once it seems like Miami has a direction with the most important position in football. Here is my take on why Tua should sit 2020 out and not see the field this upcoming season.
- Miami gave up 58 sacks last year. That reminds me of the Tannehill days of him getting destroyed every game. Ryan Fitzpatrick last year had a good feel in the pocket, if Rosen were in the game it could have been a lot worse. Fitzpatrick avoided many sacks with his pocket presence, moving up and back, weaving away from pressure. I understand that at some point he will be getting hit in the pocket and get knocked down. But why rush him into the game when this team won’t be in contention this year?
- Miami has two 1st and two 2ndround picks in next year’s draft. With all the picks they used on O- lineman this year, let us see if they can play. Last year’s 3rd round pick, Michael Deiter showed very little. What if Austin Jackson, Robert Hunt, and Solomon Kindley need time to develop? I love that Miami used so many picks on upgrading that unit, but what if they aren’t that solid just yet? It would be open duck season, meaning Tua would be getting hit way too often. Erick Flowers and Ted Karras were quality signings, but the O-line is still a question mark. Say if Miami misses on a few of those drafted players, they will still have the luxury of multiple picks to solidify the offensive line.
— DolphinsTalk.com (@DolphinsTalk) May 8, 2020
- The Dolphins leading rusher last season was Ryan Fitzpatrick. I know they signed Jordan Howard and traded for Matt Breida, but Barry Sanders couldn’t have averaged 4-yards a carry last season. Until Miami has a real rushing attack, it would be foolish to put Tua into the game. A young QB needs a running game to be successful. Even Russell Wilson, who Tua is often compared with, had a great running game in his first few years. Great defense and running game are the best recipes for a young signal-caller. Until Miami has an average defense and running game, Tua shouldn’t see the field.
- Many great Quarterbacks have sat for an extended period before seeing the field. For example, Patrick Maholmes sat a full year before he started the season finale. Aaron Rodgers sat behind Favre for 3 seasons. Brady was behind Bledsoe before he got injured. Jimmy G sat behind Brady, Rivers was behind Brees, and Brees was behind Doug Flutie his rookie year. Lamar Jackson sat behind Flacco before they saw enough. There shouldn’t be a rush to play Tua with other options available.
- With the world we live in today, there probably won’t be any rookie camps and a limited training camp. With Fitzpatrick already having Chan Gailey as a coordinator, he has the leg up early in the season. I have not even included his injured hip, that the doctors haven’t even looked at yet. Let’s make sure that his hip is 1000 percent healthy, give him a good year to work out and get stronger.
I am as excited as anyone to see what Tua can bring to the Miami Dolphins, but let’s not rush to throw him into the fire with so many question marks surrounding the NFL. We waited so long for someone like Tua to inject life into this franchise, please let 2020 be a year of rest and rehabilitation for us and Tua.
As always,
Phins up
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Totally agree!!!!
The funny thing is everything you argue for Tua is the same argument that can be made for Josh Rosen who you even failed to mention as another reason Tua can sit so Miami can at least give Rosen a fair chance to increase his trade value.
Unfortunately, this article makes way too much sense. I agree with all of it, especially the 1st part.
The Oline needs time to gell and see if the rooks can play, all the while Tua is making that hip teflon and rubber and immersing himself in the playbook, doing well in practice. Say by week 12, Phins are 5-7, 4-8, ok, roll him out there and let him play a little. That time will be more or less 1 year since his hip injury and the team will know about how that Oline is.
Why pick him with the 5th overall pick just to sit him on the bench for a year to develop? Quarterbacks picked in the top five play in their first year, and usually right away. If we were going to pick a quarterback to develop on the bench for a year or two, we could have picked Jacob Eason in the 4th round. He has a stronger arm than Tua and none of the injury concerns. I’ll answer you point for point however:
1) We did give up a lot of sacks last year, but we have had a bad offensive line since 2014, when they released Richie Incognito & John Jerry. If that line was good enough for Tannehill, who started immediately as a rookie, as well as Cutler, Rosen & Fitzpatrick, it should be good enough for Tua. A bad offensive line wasn’t an excuse for the other quarterbacks, but now Tua should get special consideration? Why rush him in? We need to evaluate him and see if he can actually hold up in an NFL season. 2021 might be the last time in a while that we have the draft capital to move up and get a top quarterback prospect. I don’t want to sit Tua for a whole season and pass up on a great QB and then find out that Tua can’t play years down the road.
2) You want to see if our offensive line picks pan out in 2020, but don’t want to see if Tua pans out? Tua was called the highest risk pick in the draft, we NEED to see if he is any good on the NFL level. Johnny Manziel had similar stats in college to Tua. College success does not equal NFL success. Tua also has to be game tested, you can’t tell by watching him in practice.
3) We have gone long ways to upgrade our rushing attack, but part of the reason that Fitzpatrick was the top rusher was because we used so many different runningbacks throughout the season. Miami had four different runningbacks start throughout the 2019 season and two others see playing time. Had Walton not gotten suspended or had Drake not been traded, they would have been the leading rushers. The team upgraded both the offensive line and runningback position in the offseason, so a better running game is all but guaranteed.
4) Patrick MaHomes wasn’t a top 5 pick. He sat behind Alex Smith in a season where Alex Smith made the pro bowl and was even talked about as an MVP candidate. MaHomes was also seen as being a somewhat rough prospect. We were told for Months that Tua was 100% NFL ready, meaning that he is READY TO PLAY. Rodgers, Garoppolo & Rivers sat behind Hall of Famers or future Hall of Famers in Favre, Brady & Brees, so these are just stupid examples. Brady sat behind Bledsoe, but Brady was a 6th round pick and Bledsoe was a three time pro bowler. Brees was a second round pick. Tua was a top five pick, here is how top five picks were played during their first season over the last 10 years.
Started right away:
2019: Kyler Murray NFL Rookie of the year
2018: Sam Darnold
2016: Carson Wentz
2015: Jameis Winston Rookie pro bowler
2015: Marcus Mariota
2012: Andrew Luck Rookie Prow Bowler 4 pro bowls in six years
2012: Robert Griffin III Rookie Pro Bowler
2011: Cam Newton Rookie Pro Bowler Former MVP
2010: Sam Bradford
QBs that sat some games the first year:
2018: Baker Mayfield came in in the 3rd game of the year off of the Bench, won the game and started the rest of the way. He should have started from day one.
2017: Mitch Trubisky sat the first four games, started thereafter
2016: Jared Goff sat the first nine games
2014: Blake Bortles sat first three games, started thereafter
The two worst QBs on the list are Bortles & Trubisky. There is NO EVIDENCE that QBs that sit out play better.
History is on the side of starting Tua and sooner rather than later.
5) Players switch teams ALL THE TIME and have to learn new systems, this is just a cop out. We were told before the draft that Tua was 100% healthy and that the hip was fully healed. We were also told that there was no reason to have any concerns over his past injuries. Anytime anyone voiced any injury concerns, they were brushed off to the side saying that “all players get injured”. If he isn’t healthy enough to start, then he wasn’t healthy enough to draft either.
He has to play some this season. Here’s why. Put yourself in Grier and Flores shoes. You are in a rebuild mindset. Your building in stages. After this season You’re going to go through the March 2021 Free Agent period, with plenty of cap space to sign experienced ready to play talent, and then in April, you’re going sit in front of a draft board with 5 picks in the first 3 rounds. If you don’t play Tua, you don’t have a complete player personnel plan, or player evaluation of your QB?
Now, during this crucial stage of your rebuild, you have no idea of how Tua’s skill set will translate to NFL play because you sat him. Even when he was healthy. Also, your not sure if you need a QB from free agency or even at the draft, if a team offers you a trade up to get a Lawrence or Justin Fields.
This is not like Jordan Love where GB has an established QB in place. Tua is going to play at some point this year “when the coaches feel he’s ready” And, I would not be surprised if he performed better than good in Chan Gaileys spread offense.
This is not about Tua with me. I posted before the draft that I would root for the QB the Dolphins drafted. This is about what is logical for the team moving forward. The roster is vastly improved from ‘19 and when weaknesses are identified this season, the players the team can bring in here from the 2021 FA period, and Draft can fill those holes and put this team in bonafide contention for playoffs and, who knows, once there, even a Super Bowl in 2021. Look how quickly The Eagles, Rams & 49ers got their.
If I hear you correctly, Tua isn’t any good until we have a good OL and running game? We should let Fitz or Rosen pay the price until we get that 32nd ranked OL in shape? What happened to getting thrown into the fire? BTW, you didnt list the QBs that started immediately, Marino and many more.
It looks like this franchise has been looking for a OL, D, running game, coach and more for years as well.