More Tua Talk From All Angles as Dolphins Set to Open Camp
Tua Tagovailoa was a hot topic of conversation throughout the offseason, and it didn't slow right up to the start of training camp.
Tagovailoa is entering a crossroads season as the Dolphins’ quarterback. The team has surrounded him with offensive playmakers, and they have the needed draft capital to replace him in the offseason.
Here’s a recap of some of the Tagovailoa headlines and storylines from the past couple of days.
Tyreek Hill on First Take
Newly acquired wide receiver Tyreek Hill appeared on ESPN’s First Take on Monday morning and he passionately defended Tagovailoa against hosts Bart Scott, a former NFL linebacker, and Chris Russo, a popular radio personality.
"I just feel like a lot of people haven't seen young Tua's full potential,” Hill said. “I had a chance to practice with him...I see a lot of similarities when I look at him and look at Patrick (Mahomes) ... Zach Wilson is a dog, but I'd rather play with the most accurate QB in the NFL."
This isn’t the first time Hill has praised Tagovailoa’s accuracy. In June, Hill said on his "It Needed To Be Said" podcast, “As far as accuracy wise, I’m going with Tua all day” when asked if Tagovailoa is more accurate than Mahomes.
It’s admirable to see Hill support his quarterback in the national media since joining the Dolphins, but calling Tagovailoa the most accurate quarterback in the NFL is a stretch.
Tagovailoa ranked seventh in raw completion percentage last season and 13th in completion percentage over expected, which measures the success of a pass relative to the difficulty of the throw.
Tagovailoa is accurate, especially on short and intermediate passes, Hill is correct about that, but maybe the hyperbole needs to be tempered a bit.
Tagovailoa and McDaniel win “QB/Coach Battle Royale”
Chris Simms, a former NFL quarterback and lead NFL analyst for ProFootballTalk, publicized a Twitter poll this offseason to select which NFL quarterback/head coach combination would win in a fight.
Simms has been critical of Tagovailoa in the past, ranking him 29th out of 40 in his offseason quarterback rankings. This made him public enemy number 1 of Tagovailoa’s biggest supporters on Twitter.
Tagovailoa and McDaniel were assigned the lowest seed (32nd) in the tournament, but with the help of Dolphins Twitter, they upset the likes of Ryan Tannehill and Mike Vrabel in the first round before defeating Josh Allen and Sean McDermott in the final round.
After 27,970 total votes were cast in the championship round, the Dolphins’ duo won with 54.9 percent of the vote.
Simms seemed to take it well, posting this photoshopped image of Tagovailoa and McDaniel on Twitter after the results became official.
Tagovailoa and The Athletic’s Annual Survey of NFL Coaches and Executives
Every year, Mike Sando of The Athletic releases a quarterback tier list based on a survey filled out by 50 NFL coaches and executives, including six general managers; eight head coaches; 10 evaluators; 12 coordinators; six quarterback coaches; seven execs whose specialties include analytics, game management, and the salary cap; with the remaining ballot put together by four members of one team’s personnel department.
Tagovailoa finished 26th in the survey and was placed in tier four, which is, “A quarterback who could be an unproven player (not enough information for voters to classify) or a veteran who ideally would not start all 17 games.”
The Dolphins starter was placed in tier four last offseason as well because he had only started nine games to that point. However, this offseason, evaluators placed Tagovailoa in tier four because “they saw enough to say he didn’t belong higher.”
Tagovailoa ranked ahead of only Zach Wilson when it comes to AFC East quarterbacks as Mac Jones finished 18th and Josh Allen finished fourth.
While a lot of the quotes in the story about Tagovailoa were mostly negative, there was one positive quote from an offensive coordinator that highlighted how Tagovailoa’s quick decision-making should allow him to thrive in McDaniel’s new offense.
Tagovailoa has a lot of work to do in the eyes of the NFL if he wants to become a no-doubt franchise quarterback.
