NFL Rumors: Dolphins' Fully Support Tua

 

Over the last two days it has become crystal clear that the Miami Dolphins' are fully committed to Tua Tagovailoa as their starting quarterback next season. 

In two separate interviews this week, the Dolphins' general manager Chris Grier as well as new head coach Mike McDaniel both made fairly definitive statements signalling their support for the young passer as he heads into year 3. Despite suffering through a 1-7 start in 2021 and missing the playoffs, Tua led the team to win 8 of their last 9 games to close out the season and in the process of doing so, quelled a lot of the trade rumors that circulated around the team for a majority of last year.

On Wednesday afternoon when he was asked, Grier finally put an end to the nearly year long connection between the Dolphins and Texans' quarterback Deshaun Watson when he told reporters, "the door is shut on Deshaun" and "I think we're good with Tua". The rest of the interview only echoed the same sentiment, with Grier conveying that the team's offensive staff is confident in their quarterbacks ability to fit into their new scheme; and when asked if the team views Tua as an elite franchise quarterback moving forward Grier remarked in a fairly positive manner, "I can't say he can't be" while being sure to note how the young signal caller is only 23 games into his career. 

Dolphins GM Chris Grier also said Deshaun Watson is off the table. Mike McDaniel and his staff poured over Tua Tagovailoa film and are all onboard with building a team around him.

— Omar Kelly (@OmarKelly) March 2, 2022

Carrying the same tune during a segment with Good Morning Football on Thursday, Dolphins' head coach Mike McDaniel reaffirmed all of the same notions in support of Tua as their starting quarterback for next season. The top takeaways from McDaniel joining the broadcast included his commentary on how he views his role as a coach in relation to his quarterback, as well as the several insights he provided which further illuminated the positive manner in which McDaniel views Tagovailoa. 

During the show McDaniel can be quoted saying, "I'm really excited moving forward because the guy has some skills that I think are untapped" as he continued to explain, "I think it's important that you empower the quarterback with the rest of the players around him and the scheme you bring forth. So, I think his best days are ahead of him."

.@MiamiDolphins Head Coach Mike McDaniel joins @PSchrags to talk about where things stand with QB Tua Tagovailoa.

"It's empowering to the player that there's people who believe in him... I think his best days are in front of him." pic.twitter.com/99RbPE9iqg

— Good Morning Football (@gmfb) March 3, 2022

Next season will be crucial for Tua and the Dolphins as they determine his long-term future with the franchise, but it should be more than reaffirming for fans that Tagovailoa will seemingly have the full fledged support of the team's coaching staff and front-office. If McDaniel is able to implement a system that fosters Tua's strengths and compliments his weaknesses, the Dolphins have a strong core of young players to quickly become somewhat of a relevant contenders in the AFC. However, if Tua struggles through the 2022 season it will likely be the end of his tenure in Miami.

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