NFL ESPN Insider Jeff Darlington was on the Pat McAfee Show on Tuesday and went into detail with the entire timeline between the Miami Dolphins and Tua in regards to the contract extension talks and why a deal hasn’t been agreed to yet. The video of the clip is below, but here are the cliff notes to what Jeff said and where we are going next.

A month ago, negotiations weren’t even close.

The contract on the table Miami presented Tua earlier this offseason Tua didn’t perceive it as market value.

Since then, both sides have been amicable, and they are “inching closer” to a deal.

Jeff does not indicate if Tua will practice on Wednesday or if he will sit out all of the practices like Jordan Love intends to do with the Packers.

Jeff believes if Tua is ON THE FIELD Wednesday it means both sides aren’t close, and Tua will most likely play out this season and be a Free Agent after the season.

Jeff believes that if Tua does sit out practice each day, there may be progress, and the sides are getting closer. That there is light at the end of the tunnel to get a deal done before Week 1 of the regular season.

Jeff said there is a “CLEAR DIVIDE” where the team is just not ready to commit that type of money necessary to Tua to get a deal done.

Tua and his agents feel he shouldn’t have to take anything less than a top-of-the-market deal.

The interview got interesting with the next comment below. Darlington said if you look at this from a business standpoint if you sign Tua now compared to signing him after the season, even if Tua is the top quarterback in the NFL this upcoming season, better than every other quarterback, other general managers have told Jeff they still wouldn’t pay Tua $50+ million per season.

Those GMs feel he (Tua) has Tyreek, Waddle, and McDaniel…..and of course, he can look great and produce in that system. But if Tua is out of Miami and on another team without those weapons and without a mastermind offensive coach calling plays, he would struggle (ie, how he did under Flores early in his career).

On Monday, on ESPN NFL Live, “I still don’t really get the sense that they are close enough to where this is going to happen with any imminent urgency.”

 

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