Tua Tagovailoa contract talks continue at Dolphins minicamp
The Miami Dolphins are in the middle of their three-day minicamp, and Tua Tagovailoa contract talks continue. Tagovailoa spoke to the media on Tuesday when the topic came up. When asked by a local reporter if he was “frustrated” with the current negotiations, Tagovailoa said, “Uh, not frustrated, um, I’m…I’m another word.”
A media member followed up with, ” Was it annoyed?” After a bit of silence, Tagovailoa responded, “How ’bout that pause?” with a smile to the sounds of reporter laughter. He then added, “I just wanted to get something done. That’s it. I just wanted to get something done.”
Amidst further follow-up, Tagovailoa immediately shot down the word “concerned.” He added, “Concerned is not the right word; that’s way off from the word.” He did take on a few more words but added, “This is the nature of the beast, right? This is how it goes.”
On the field, Tagovailoa was looking sharp in drills, as per eyewitnesses and via their Twitter accounts. Tagovailoa is entering his fifth season, coming off of an MVP-caliber 2023, in which he led the NFL in passing yards with 4,624. Tagovailoa also led the league in passer rating and completion percentage against the blitz. He and his camp are looking for fair market value for the position.
Tagovailoa’s contract and the quarterback market
Jared Goff recently inked a new deal with the Detroit Lions. In relation to this quarterback’s contract, Tagovailoa said, “The market is the market. None of that would matter if we didn’t have a market.” Goff has been to a Super Bowl with the Los Angeles Rams and an NFC championship game with Detroit. His career playoff record is 5-4 compared to Tagovailoa’s 0-1. From a regular season statistical view, they arguably have comparable numbers across their careers.
In the regular season, Tagovailoa is 32-19 compared to Goff’s 66-50-1. Tagovailoa leads in completion percentage, 66.9% to 64.7%, and quarterback rating 97.1 to 93.6. Goff has slightly more interceptions per game at 0.7 to 0.6 but more touchdowns per game with 1.58 to 1.52. Goff has the edge in pass yards per game at 260 to 238, yet Tagovailoa has a better pass yards per attempt than Goff at 7.7 to 7.4. Tagovailoa is also 2-0 against Goff head-to-head.
In 2023, Tagovailoa and Goff were one and two, respectively, in passing yards. Tagovailoa had a higher quarterback rating last season, 101.1 to Goff’s 97.9. Tagovailoa had a higher completion percentage, yet Goff had one more touchdown and two fewer interceptions. In a regular-season statistical landscape, the two are very comparable, and it’s increasingly looking like Tagovailoa, and his camp is looking at Goff’s contract as their floor price.
Timeline for the contract
With the minicamp concluding Thursday, ESPN’s Jeff Darlington, who has as inside a track on the Dolphins as anyone in the business, predicts a deal will eventually get done. On NFL Live on Tuesday, Darlington told the crew he believes the Goff contract and structure is the best “mirror-image” of what the Dolphins should pay Tua. He went on to say and made it clear, “Tua is their guy moving forward.” He added, I would anticipate by mid-July, before training camp begins, we will see Tua with a new contract in Miami.”
