Dolphins QB Chatter, Questions, Concerns
It probably shouldn't have surprised anyone that the first question posed to Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross in his Zoom media session to address the firing of head coach Brian Flores would deal with the quarterback position.
Actually, it was four questions combined into one: What role, if any, the quarterback position played in this decision? Was there a question over whether QB Tua Tagovailoa is the Dolphins' man for the future? How much does QB Deshaun Watson play into it? And was there disagreement over which direction you should go at quarterback?)
“First of all, let me be clear, it played no role at all," Ross answered. "I have a lot of confidence in Tua and I think the next head coach will work with him, or whoever else, but I have a lot of confidence in him. I have watched him grow. I think he’s a fine young man and he is right now the quarterback and that will be dependent upon the new head coach but I have a lot of confidence in Tua.”
And that comment just made us think of so many questions, concerns and comments regarding the whole Dolphins QB situation.
WHO DECIDES ON THE 2022 DOLPHINS QB?
We'll start with this one, and it relates to Ross' comment saying that Tua right now is the quarterback and that will be "dependent upon the new head coach."
Wait, what?
So does this mean it's the new head coach who's going to have control over personnel and not retained general manager Chris Grier? And does this mean it was Brian Flores, based on that idea, who had personnel control when the Dolphins decided to take Tua over Justin Herbert with the fifth selection in the 2020 NFL draft?
As a reminder, Flores and Grier both addressed the media during that 2020 draft and the impression given was that every pick was made — and here comes that word — collaboratively.
But exactly who it was who pushed hardest for Tua, whether it was Grier, Flores or Ross, has never been clearly established and has become subject to a lot of conjecture.
Of course, maybe all three agreed that Tua needed to be the choice.
That doesn't change the eyebrow-raising comment from Ross about the new coach decided whether to pursue a starting quarterback in the offseason.
And maybe it brings into question every single pick made in the past two drafts and every roster decision, though we've always maintained that Flores at the very least had his stamp of approval on probably every roster move the team made.
THE TUA-HERBERT RECORD FOOLISHNESS
Two major points need to be made when it comes to Tua Tagovailoa and Justin Herbert.
The first is that some fans and some media members need to get away from won-loss record when trying to compare the two.
Yes, Tua has the edge in that department, with a 13-8 record as a starter compared to 15-17 for Herbert.
In defending Tua, his supporters always point to his lack of a supporting cast on offense, especially when compared to the Chargers' fine wide receivers (though L.A.'s offensive line isn't much better than Miami's), but what's conveniently left out when talking about won-loss record are the defenses of both teams.
Here's another way to put it: If you saw the Dolphins-Patriots and Chargers-Raiders game Sunday, would you even think for a second of arguing the idea that Herbert was the best quarterback on that day? Well, Tua was 1-0 on Sunday and Herbert was 0-1.
So putting too much emphasis on the won-loss record for quarterbacks is silly — and that's only because "stupid" is too harsh a word.
THE TUA-HERBERT DRAFT DEBATE
The other point about the Tua and Herbert comparison is that there is no comparison. Herbert is the better NFL quarterback. Point blank. End of story.
But it's very easy to see that now, whereas it wasn't so clear-cut before the 2020 draft.
Longtime NFL writer Jeff Legwold ranked the top 100 prospects ahead of that draft based on conversations with scouts, coaches and personnel executives, and guess what? Tua came in at No.9 on his list; Herbert came in at No. 38.
In the big picture, there actually was quite the debate as to who was the better prospects, with more actually favoring Tua but always with the caveat of his hip injury. One analyst clearly on the side of Herbert in this debate, ironically, was former Dolphins Vice President of Football Operations Mike Tannenbaum.
The point here is that while it's easy to criticize the Dolphins for missing on that pick — and they did badly miss — it wasn't so obvious before that draft.
WHAT HAPPENS NOW WITH DESHAUN WATSON?
This question is asked solely from the Dolphins viewpoint, as in, will they resume their pursuit of Watson now that Flores is gone?
The question is valid because it's pretty obvious by now that Flores wasn't necessarily a huge Tua fan and maybe part of the decision to let him go — despite what Ross says — involved him not being completely on board with proceeding forward with Tua.
Then again, how the Dolphins have proceeded with Tua has been weird from the start.
It made perfect sense to have him start his rookie season watching and learning from veteran Ryan Fitzpatrick as he continued to get closer to 100 percent after the hip injury, but then came the really strange decision to insert Tua into the starting lineup after six games when the Dolphins' bye was moved up.
It was weird because Flores had suggested just two weeks earlier that Tua wasn't physically ready to play in a game, but more so because the Dolphins had just moved to 3-3 on the season with consecutive victories against the 49ers — by 26 and 24 — with Fitzpatrick throwing three touchdown passes in each game.
And because Flores had established very clearly during his first year in 2019 that he was playing every game to win — a fact that ended up hurting the Dolphins in the 2020 draft — this either was a case of Flores suddenly deciding that Tua gave him a better chance to win or somebody else of authority forced him to put Tua in the lineup to start his NFL career.
The result was an uneven rookie season for Tua and two benchings in favor of Fitzpatrick, one successful against Vegas and one unsuccessful against Denver.
WHAT'S NEXT FOR TUA?
Tua clearly was better in his second season as he improved in most statistical categories, but it's also obvious there are limitations in his game.
The Dolphins showed they can win with Tua — the seven-game winning streak proved that — but the question is whether they can win big.
Former Dolphins head coach Jimmy Johnson said this week on the Colin Cowherd Show that a team can "probably win with Tua but you've got to be really great around him."
That's not quite the definition of a franchise quarterback, now, is it?
And if you're really great around a quarterback, then chances are the quarterback just isn't making much of a difference. Getting a true franchise quarterback obviously lessens the need to be "really great" everywhere else.
That's why it says here the Dolphins absolutely, positively should investigate every avenue to land that big fish, or do their due diligence, as Grier put it after the trade deadline passed in November without a trade being made.
As for Watson, there might be some clarity on his status within the next month or so and a report indicated the Houston Texans would like to have a trade done before the start of free agency in mid-March — though no trade can become official until that same time.
It's been reported that Flores was one reason Watson was willing to waive his no-trade clause only for Miami last year, so maybe that will make Watson reconsider his position, though there still are enticing factors at play in South Florida, namely the weather and the lack of a state income tax.
Finally, will the Dolphins pursue Watson again if his situation clears up? Ross certainly had the chance to shut the door on that idea in his press conference Monday when his comment about having confidence in Tua could have been amplified with something like that, "and we look forward to him leading the offense again next season and for many years."
But there was no such endorsement. That doesn't mean the Dolphins will be going after Watson again, but it sure left the door open.
