The evergreen question a Miami Dolphins fan asks himself each and every offseason is the one we put in the title. Since 2020, when he was drafted during that memorable lockdown-time draft, Tagovailoa showed all his talent and all his limits. He is a clearly unique player. As the only left-handed thrower in the league, people always believed he would have been one of a kind. He certainly didn’t prove them wrong. His accuracy, decision making and talent to keep the offense in motion have always been on point but, in the meantime, he took too many risks and suffered a lot of injuries. Some of those, like his repeated concussions, have been quite alarming.
As the Miami Dolphins gear up for the new NFL season, much of their potential success will hinge on the performance of their quarterback. Following a year marked by both flashes of brilliance and moments of inconsistency, Tagovailoa faces a crucial opportunity to prove he can lead the team deep into the postseason. With key offensive weapons like Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle at his side, expectations are high. For fans following the Dolphins’ journey and interested in the betting side of the NFL, platforms like DraftKings remain a reference point. In this context, Sportsgrid offers insights into how a DraftKings promo code works, outlining the conditions for use and how bettors can access special offers. Betting platforms represent a valid tool for every fan: they can keep him updated on news, statistics, odds to win and give him all the key info he requires to loyally follow his heroes each and every Sunday.
An unmatched skillset
First and foremost, Tua Tagovailoa is an amazing quarterback. He can release the ball in a split second and put it in the hands of an extremely fast sprinter like Tyreek Hill, his favourite receiver, during his route running, with an unmatched degree of accuracy. Of course, all the NFL QBs are talented throwers, otherwise they would run another job, but not everyone of them can put the ball on the money, as people say in jargon, for a runner traveling that fast and that faraway. Whenever he’s in tip-top shape, Tua can easily throw for more than 300 yards, like happened in week 9 of the last season, and win the game, but his problem is exactly this one: he’s not always in good form.
Injuries and lack of focus
More often than not during his 5-years professional career with the Fins, Tagovailoa has been sidelined because of injuries. He had some problems with his ankle and his throwing hand, as most QBs do, but he suffered way too many concussions for his young age. On one occasion (in 2022) He stayed down and couldn’t move his fingers accurately. On another one he had to be helped up from the grass and couldn’t keep playing. These injuries are quite severe and a lot of football players experienced issues and problems even years after retiring. Nowadays the league asks each franchise to substitute players who experience a concussion while playing and keep them out of the lineup for the following week, or weeks, should an impartial medic assess a severe concussion.
Tagovailoa has been forced on the sidelines more than once because of concussions. At one point he even speculated early retirement to protect his health but then chose to keep playing, wearing a special helmet for a couple of weeks. Ultimately, he refused to wear that and stated that he would have happily risked injuries in order to play the game he loved so much.
Not all of his injuries are on him, of course. Sometimes they occurred because of mistakes in protection. The offensive line is a problem for the Dolphins, as it has always been during Tua’s tenure. In 2025 and beyond the situation could be even worse, because the veteran Terron Armstead decided to retire from professional football. Even when the big boys protected him well, though, Tagovailoa didn’t always play brilliantly.
Another area of concern is his lack of focus. Tagovailoa makes mostly good decisions with the ball in his hands but sometimes he forces his throws instead of taking a sack or shooting it out of bounds. Because of these mental mistakes he turns it over too often. This trait is pretty uncommon in elite quarterbacks. It’s quite difficult to see the Josh Allens or Patrick Mahomeses of the world give away possessions this easily. Training can help him to avoid these ugly mistakes, of course, but Tagovailoa must take some steps forward in order to compete for a Super Bowl.
The Fins will go only when their QB will take them but the franchise has to do everything it can to protect him well. Otherwise Tagovailoa will be sidelined another time. This franchise already showed to be considerably worse without number 1 under center.
