Tua MVP Odds, QB Rankings
There's a big question mark surrounding Tua Tagovailoa this offseason, but it's all about his health and durability now and no longer about his potential as an NFL quarterback.
That's pretty obvious when you check out the various odds that already have come out for the 2023 NFL MVP award or the NFL.com ranking of the 68 quarterbacks who started at least one game during the just-completed season.
Tagovailoa clearly made believers beyond the Miami Dolphins fan base after a 2022 season during which he led the NFL in passer rating at 105.5.
TUA IN THE 2023 NFL MVP ODDS
Tagovailoa earned one fifth-place MVP vote this past season when the award was won by Patrick Mahomes of the Kansas City Chiefs, who is a favorite to duplicate Aaron Rodgers' back-to-back awards of 2020 and 2021.
In odds released by DraftKings Sportsbook, Mahomes is the co-favorite with Joe Burrow at +650 and Tua came in sixth at +1,500.
The others ahead of Tua were Josh Allen at +800, Justin Herbert at +1,000 and Jalen Hurts at +1,300.
Rounding out the top 10 are Aaron Rodgers (+1,600), Trevor Lawrence (+1,700), Lamar Jackson (+1,700) and Dak Prescott Steelers (+1,800.
For the BetMGM Sportsbook, Tua is tied for fifth place with Hurts at +1,000, with Mahomes, Burrow and Allen all co-favorites at +650 and Herbert fourth at +900.
The only Dolphins player ever named NFL MVP by The Associated Press was Dan Marino for his performance in his record-setting 1984 season.
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TUA AND THE NFL.COM QB RANKINGS
In the NFL.com rankings, done by Marc Sessler and encompassing 2022 regular season and playoff performance, Tua came in seventh behind Mahomes (no surprise there), Hurts, Burrow, Allen, Herbert and Lawrence.
"Tua's heady numbers and sky-high marks from PFF tell the tale of a player who largely answered his critics," Sessler wrote. "What about the deep ball? Would he simply be benched for Teddy Bridgewater by Halloween? Instead, he teamed gorgeously with Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle, elevating his worth in a quarterback-friendly scheme run by young wizard Mike McDaniel. His ghastly prime-time performance against the Chargers raised weather-worn questions, but the bigger concern is Tua's future in football after a series of concussions."
Without question, health now is the biggest concern when it comes to Tua because we saw in 2022 what he can do when he's put in the right system with the right players around him.
For those wondering, Teddy Bridgewater came in at number 32 in the NFL.com rankings and Skylar Thompson was 49th.
WHAT THE ODDS AND RANKINGS MEAN FOR THE DOLPHINS?
Clearly, the feeling is the Dolphins will be in good shape at quarterback provided Tagovailoa can stay healthy, but the bad news (if you want to call it that) is that the MVP odds and QB rankings just reinforced how daunting it's going to be for any team to get through the AFC to get to the Super Bowl.
Mahomes, Burrow, Allen, Herbert and Lawrence not only are talented, they're all young, with Mahomes the oldest of the bunch at 27 years old.
So, yeah, it sure does look like it's going to take high-end quarterback play for the Dolphins to break through and make a deep playoff run. Tagovailoa provided that for a good chunk of the 2022 season and now the question moving forward is whether he'll be able to do it through the end of the regular season and into the playoffs.
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