Ranking Dolphins Top 25 Players: A Controversial Passer

The Miami Dolphins are entering a critical season in 2025. After missing the playoffs last season and not making any blockbuster moves this offseason, the team is under a lot of pressure to finally get over the hump in the playoffs.

With that in mind, it seems like an excellent time to rank the Dolphins’ top 25 players heading into the 2025 season. This list was voted on by site publisher Alain Poupart (@PoupartNFL), deputy editor Dante Collinelli (@DanteCollinelli) and contributor Jake Mendel (@JMendel94).

The rankings were compiled separately based on a points system. That system awarded 25 points to the first player in each writer’s top 25, 24 to the second player, 23 to the third player, and so on.

No. 4: Tua Tagovailoa

The NFL’s most controversial quarterback finishes fourth on our list of the Dolphins’ top-25 players. That might be too high or too low for some, but we’re all pretty confident that Tua is one of the Dolphins’ best players.

There’s no doubt that he’s a perfect fit for the team’s offense, and that it runs at its best when he’s on the field. Tua’s accuracy, placement, and timing in the middle of the field makes the entire offense hum.

Of course, he’s aided by the team’s elite speed at receiver and running back, but Tua also maximizes a lot of what those can do when he’s right.

The issue with Tua is that he’s not on the field enough. He has struggled to stay on the field in all but one of his professional seasons, including playing just 11 games last season.

We can debate just how good Tua is all day long, but his outlook starts and ends with his availability. If Tua misses a good chunk of the 2025 season, whether or not his ceiling is limited as a passer won’t matter.

If he does stay healthy, Tua is an interesting spot. He’s already proven he can operate the Dolphins’ offense at an impressive rate. Still, he’s failed to get the team over the hump in big spots, especially against good teams.

Not all of those losses are on Tua, as he’s played well in a few big games before. But he’s hardly been consistent.

Tua and the Dolphins as a whole need to find a way back to their 2023 form. It’s no secret that the team failed to create explosive plays last season. Of the Dolphins’ 15 pass completions that went for 25 or more yards in 2024, Tua was responsible for 13 of them.

Still, Miami was well behind its usual pace even when Tua was in the lineup. There were several reasons for that, some of which were out of the quarterback’s control, but it will be a focus this season either way.

At the end of the day, Tua has proven he’s a good NFL quarterback and that he can produce a top-of-the-league offense. The question for this season — assuming health — will be whether he can take another step in his development.

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