Where Tagovailoa finished among QBs in 15 areas: One dramatic improvement, one regression
The message to Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa was delivered very clearly and very publicly this week: He cannot continue to put himself in harm’s way when it’s avoidable.
“He needs to be available,” general manager Chris Grier said Tuesday in the wake of Tagovailoa missing four games with a concussion and two games with a hip injury. “He needs to know how to protect himself. You’re going to get hit at times. It’s always going to happen, but he needs to control what he can control. He understands that. Not being available for taking chances and risk is unacceptable to us, and he knows that.”
But for the 11 games that Tagovailoa played, he was generally very productive, producing a passer rating of 100 in six of the games and at least 89 in nine of the games. He had two dismal performances — Week 2 against Buffalo (56.7 rating and three interceptions before being concussed) and the key Week 15 game at Houston, when he threw three interceptions and had a 60 passer rating.
Aside from durability issues, Grier emerged generally encouraged about his quarterback, who signed a four-year, $212.5 million extension last offseason, one that boosts his cap number by $30 million to $39 million in 2025.
“Players that can operate this system at the levels that he does, we’re very excited,” Grier said. “He’s 26 years old; there’s still growth [opportunity]. I think every year you’ve seen growth in what he does.
“This year, Mike McDaniel and I talked about some of the steps he took when he was on the field. And he can still ascend, which is kind of weird for a quarterback that’s played as much as he has and won as many games as he has from high school, college and the NFL. So we’re very confident. His teammates are extremely confident in him, and I think that’s been the one thing that seeing her.”
Here’s where Tagovailoa finished the season in 15 categories:
▪ Let’s start with two areas where Tagovailoa had enormous changes from 2023 – one positive and one negative.
The positive: Among starters (minimum 50 passing attempts), he led the league with a 112.7 passer rating when in the face of a heavy pass rush, according to Pro Football Focus. He completed 49 of 77 such passes for eight touchdowns and one interception.
That was a stunning and welcomed turnaround from 2023. When facing a pass rush barreling in on him, Tagovailoa had a dismal 57.5 passer rating in 2023; only Zach Wilson, Bryce Young and Mac Jones were worse among qualifiers, per Pro Football Focus. Tagovailoa completed only 46 of 113 passes when pressured (40.7 percent) with two touchdowns and two interceptions in that 2023 season.
But here’s the one area where Tagovailoa declined markedly, and it reflected the stunning drop in splash plays in the Dolphins passing game.
On passes that traveled at least 20 air yards, Tagovailoa was 27th in passer rating, at a poor 78.5.
He went 9 for 24 for 364 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions on such 20-plus-yard throws, completing just 37.5 percent of those passes, which ranked 23rd in the league for completion percentage.
Conversely, in 2023, among quarterbacks that threw at least 40 such “20-plus-air-yard” passes, Tagovailoa completed the fourth-highest percentage of them (50.8), behind only San Francisco’s Brock Purdy (63.8), Houston’s C.J. Stroud (56.1) and the Rams’ Matt Stafford (51.9).
In 2023, Tagovailoa’s 32 completions on passes that traveled 20 or more air yards tied with Stroud for third, behind only Dallas’ Dak Prescott (35) and Jacksonville’s Trevor Lawrence (34).
Where Tagovailoa finished among qualifying NFL quarterbacks in 13 other categories, courtesy of numbers from Pro Football Focus, NFL Stats Inc. and Pro Football Reference:
▪ Passer rating: Tied with Buffalo MVP candidate Josh Allen for eighth, at 101.4. The only QBs ahead of them: Lamar Jackson (119.6), Jared Goff, Joe Burrow, Baker Mayfield, Jalen Hurts, Sam Darnold and Justin Herbert.
▪ Completion percentage: First among quarterbacks with at least 50 passing attempts, at 72.9.
▪ QBR: Fifteenth, at 60.3.
▪ Interception percentage: 12th, at 1.8 percent.
▪ Yards per completion: 36th, at just 9.9.
▪ Yards gained per attempted pass: 18th, at 7.2, barely above the league average.
▪ Sack percentage: Ninth, at 4.63.
▪ Yards passing per game: Fourth, at 260.6, behind only Burrow, Goff and Mayfield.
▪ Fourth-quarter passer rating (minimum 50 attempts): 12th, at 95.6. In the fourth quarter, Tagovailoa went 69 for 85 for 633 yards, four touchdowns and two interceptions.
In 2023, his 78.9 passer rating in the fourth quarter was 18th among starters. So that improved.
▪ Third down passer rating: 22nd, at 86.4.
▪ Passer rating in the red zone, minimum 20 throws: First, at 120.2. Tagovailoa had 16 touchdowns, no interceptions, 41 for 57 with three sacks in the red zone. There was no better red zone quarterback in the league statistically, from a TD-to-interception ratio standpoint.
▪ Passer rating when trailing in a game: Ninth, at 99.9.
▪ Passer rating when kept clean in the pocket: 20th, at 98.7.
That was a drop from 2023, when his 112.5 passer rating when he was well protected was third best in the league, behind only Purdy (125.4) and Goff (114.5). His 27 TD passes with a clean pocket tied Prescott for most in the league in 2023.
In 2024, Tagovailoa dropped to 11 TD throws when kept clean.
This story was originally published January 8, 2025 at 10:49 AM.
