Houtz Special: Is Tua Tagovailoa ‘Tanking’ for Miami?

Miami’s interest in Tua Tagovialoa is no secret. But now, it seems just as evident that Tua has an interest in Miami. 

The narrative surrounding the 2019 Miami Dolphins was straightforward; collect as much draft ammunition as possible to land Alabama QB Tua Tagovailoa and do whatever it takes to make that dream a reality. Unfortunately, this plan left many fans feeling unsettled.

On the one hand, fans wanted to see new HC Brian Flores and his group of misfits succeed and be competitive throughout the season. On the other hand, however, they wanted to lose as many games as possible to assure themselves an opportunity to get the QB they had their sights set on.

As the college season progressed, Joe Burrow slowly started to creep up from out of nowhere. And after a season, unlike anything we’ve ever witness, he is now cemented into the #1 spot in April’s draft. We all know what happened to Tagovailoa. A 300-pound defensive lineman came crashing down unexpectedly onto his right hip, forcing him to miss the remainder of the season.

Hindsight, this may have been a blessing in disguise.

Before the injury, Tagovailoa was in the running for the Heisman trophy, and the Alabama Crimson Tide were likely on their way to another College Playoff. But that all changed when Tagovailoa went down. And for a player that many believed to be a lock at the top of the draft order, everything changed.

So, Miami continued to battle throughout the regular season. Winning five games unexpectedly and losing any chance of landing the once-in-a-generation QB. Or did they? The injury that Tagovailoa suffered not only put his football career on hold, it meant that the Dolphins were now very much in play for the talented passer.

Over the last few weeks, we’ve all seen the progress from Tua. And for those of you lucky enough to be a part of Super Bowl LIV in Miami, you were given a front-row seat to The Left Arm of God and were able to learn a lot about what his future might entail.

Let’s take a look at TuaMania and what we learned from his wild week in Miami.

First, the greatest QB of All-Time had nothing but praise for the young passer. Marino, went on record to say that Tua Tagovailoa was a ‘much better college QB than I ever was.” Which not only got Dolphins’ fans excited but left a lasting impression on Tagovailoa.

When shown Marino’s comments, Tagovailoa had nothing but praise for the Hall of Fame QB.

Plenty of NFL teams are going to be concerned about Tua’s hip and injury history. But he had the perfect answer when asked by Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio what he would tell teams that may be concerned.

Tua’s agent Leigh Steinberg was asked whether or not his client wanted to go No.1-overall to the Cincinnati Bengals. I’d say the answer is no.

Miami + Tagovailoas = match made in Heaven.

He wasn’t shy about posting stuff like this on his Instagram feed.


Veteran QB Ryan Fitzpatrick already said he would be returning in 2020. And he would have no problem mentoring Tua Tagovailoa if the Dolphins decide to go that route.

‘US’? Did Tua refer to the Dolphins as ‘US’!?!?!

Welcome to Miami, Bienvenidos a Miami.

Many were uncertain whether or not Tagovailoa would ever be able to play the game of football again. Here he is throwing passes during a Super Bowl event.

 

With the NFL season finally over, we are now headed into the most critical offseason in the history of the Miami Dolphins. An offseason where the Dolphins will have close to $120-million in cap space and 13 draft picks to continue to build a winning roster. We don’t know whether or not Chris Grier and Miami’s front office will get things right, but we will have you covered all offseason long right here on Five Reasons Sports.

Check out the latest 3 Yards Per Carry Podcast, HERE

Josh Houtz wrote this article (@houtz). He’s a fan of Tua Tagovailoa and wants nothing more than for him to be drafted to Miami.

 

0 replies

Leave a Reply

Want to join the discussion?
Feel free to contribute!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *