Tua and His NFL-Leading Regrettable Stat

The Miami Dolphins QB Tua Tagovailoa drew penalties at a higher rate than anybody else at his position

Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa (1) in action during the game against the Houston Texans at NRG Stadium. | Troy Taormina-Imagn Images

INDIANAPOLIS — Tua Tagovailoa led all NFL quarterbacks in a significant category in 2024 for the third consecutive season, but he also came in first in one that might not be so unenviable.

During an NFL Operations presentation at the scouting combine this week, the league revealed a chart outling the quarterbacks that drew the most penalties in 2024 — and, yep, Tua Tagovailoa came in first in terms of ratio.

Per the NFL, Tagovailoa drew a foul on 7.32 percent of the hits he took, beating out second-place Josh Allen, the league MVP from (of course) the Buffalo Bills.

The hits included those on pass attempts, sacks, scrambles and designed runs.

Behind Tua and Allen, who drew fouls of 6.73 percent of the hits he took, the rest of the top five consisted of Bryce Young (5.45), Cooper Rush (4.88) and Kyle Murray (4.00).

Per the NFL, four starting quarterbacks did not draw one penalty all season — Derek Carr of the new Orleans Saints, Jalen Hurts of the Philadelphia Eagles, C.J. Stroud of the Houston Texans and Bo Nix of the Denver Broncos.

Tua was sacked 21 times in 2024, was hit 11 times while passing and had 17 rushing attempts, though those included kneel-downs.

Per our research of 2024 gamebooks we identified three penalties against Tua:

-- A roughing the passer against Josh Allen of the Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 1

-- A roughing the passer against Quinnen Williams of the New York Jets in Week 14

-- A roughing the passer against Mario Edwards of the Houston Texans in Week 15

It should be noted there were no penalties (nor should there have been) on the two plays that injured Tagovailoa last season — the hit by Damar Hamlin in Week 2 and the hit by Edwards in the open field in Week 15.