Tua Deserves Better Than the Miami Dolphins

Tua Tagovailoa has given everything he can to the Miami Dolphins with nothing in return.

Once upon a time, not so long ago, the Miami Dolphins and Tua Tagovailoa were destined to unite.

Miami tore it all down to rebuild around their quarterback of the future.

Just to tear him and the franchise apart instead.

Flores' development strategy for Tua:

1) Start him before he’s ready
2) Bench him twice in Q4 of promising rookie year
3) Team captain? Nope
4) Give him worst OL in NFL
5) Give him worst RB unit in NFL
6) Give him 4 OC’s in 2 years
7) Try (and fail) to replace him with Watson

— BrianCatNFL (@BrianCatNFL) October 20, 2021

Against all odds, Tua has somehow managed to remain stoic in the face of unprecedented circumstances.

Yes, he was given the keys to the franchise as QB1 heading into this season.

The problem is, those keys belong to an organization that is stuck in reverse.

Rewind to the 2020 NFL draft when Miami sat flush with draft capital and was positioning themselves as an eventual contender.

They took Tagovailoa at pick 5 after a hip injury to end his college career caused his draft stock to slip.

One spot ahead of Justin Herbert, which is not the problem.

Loading...

That first round for Miami wasn’t over, with the 18th and 30th picks still in their war chest.

Then they did this.

At pick 18 they selected a true project in tackle Austin Jackson.

Judge for yourselves. To my eyes Jackson lets his hands get way outside of frame regularly. I don’t even know how many times he *could* have been called for holding (every officiating crew’s mileage will vary). Whether called or how many times is irrelevant, it’s the tendency. pic.twitter.com/V1eXQ5joeq

— Chris Kouffman (@ckparrot) October 13, 2021

The tape doesn’t lie, Jackson has been a near disaster this season.

That being said, the rationale for taking Jackson was sound at the time.

All of the premier tackles were off the board, and Jackson’s physical tools were an intriguing foundation to build on.

However, the Dolphins decided to double-down on project players and selected CB Noah Igbinoghene with the 30th pick.

While the following players were still on the board:

Clyde Edwards-Helaire

Tee Higgins

Michael Pittman Jr.

But wait, there’s more!

Miami also had pick 39 which they used to select G Robert Hunt.

Two picks before Jonathan Taylor went off the board, and 12 picks before CB Trevon Diggs who is a superstar in the making.

The Dolphins passed on multiple upper echelon running backs in favor of Miles Gaskin, who is good but will never be great.

And reached for the physically gifted yet inconsistent Igbinoghene, instead of taking Diggs later.

These actions show a lack of identity and cohesiveness within the power structure that has set Tua and the Dolphins on a course to failure.

My GM @LRiddickESPN has spoken on the DeShaun Watson rumors and Miami setting Tua Tagovailoa up for failure.

You folks know how I feel about Riddick. pic.twitter.com/ALe80eUmh0

— Omar Kelly (@OmarKelly) October 21, 2021

So what do the Dolphins do to fix it?

Instead of giving their supposed franchise quarterback a serviceable offensive line and running game, they try to plug holes with duct tape and prayers.

Yes they added his college teammate Jaylen Waddle this year – and then proceed to misuse him on a weekly basis.

While putting Tua’s health at risk week after week behind an offensive line that is simply not starting caliber NFL talent.

Then the Dolphins appear to be continuing with the obsession over a quarterback with disturbing off-the-field allegations hanging over him.

Why?

Why add the distraction when your locker room is already fracturing and the team itself is a dysfunctional mess?

Why not give your young quarterback – who has not played poorly by the way, some time to grow into the face of the franchise?

Why not add some weapons to the running back room and find some receivers that can actually stay on the field week-to-week?

The real question instead should be this.

Why should we continue to care about this team that does not care about itself?

Thrive Fantasy takes away the hours of research required to make the most out of your fantasy sports experience. Thrive’s featured $100K guaranteed contest is only $20 to enter, and the first-place winner takes $20K.

Go to https://www.thrivefantasy.com/?promo=5Fins and use the promo code “5Fins” to match up to $100 on your first deposit when you sign up, and take advantage of your Dolphins knowledge to win big.