The Miami Dolphins quarterback competition on first day in pads includes a wow moment
The first padded practice of this Miami Dolphins training camp saw Tua Tagovailoa outperforming veterans Ryan Fitzpatrick and Josh Rosen — in one set of gassers the trio ran together after practice.
(Rosen and Fitzpatrick didn’t let that happen again on ensuing gassers, if that matters).
The group also got a lot of good work on their hand-offs and play-action fakes. There was a ton of running game drills and passes off a run fakes Monday.
Any drama building so far?
Well, what you’re really interested in is the passing. You want the stuff that will ultimately determine which quarterback plays and which sit.
What you’re really interested in is whether Tagovailoa performed as advertised. Whether he had an impressive moment that sucked the oxygen from the practice field? Whether he showed an immediate wow factor.
Sorry, we’ll have to wait another day for that.
Maybe Tuesday.
The fact is Monday’s practice was, by any measure, routine. Oh, it did have one stellar moment for the quarterbacks.
Rosen completed what would have been a 75-yard completion down the left sideline to second-year receiver Preston Williams during a team drill period.
The pass was delivered quickly, decisively and in stride. It was impressive by any account.
Rosen also seemed to show the most accuracy in consistently guiding the football into a net at the back corner of the end zone from the 10- or 15-yard line.
And Rosen, obviously the third name typically mentioned among this quarterback trio, was the only quarterback who stayed on the field with a couple of other receivers, talking football one imagines, after the pads came off.
So good day for Josh Rosen.
As for Fitzpatrick and Tagovailoa? Well, it wasn’t a bad day.
But neither was it an eye-popping day.
It was just ... a day.
Fitzpatrick had a nice completion to tight end Mike Gesicki off a play-action fake on the final team drill (11 vs. 11) segment of the practice.
It was a 12- to 15-yard gain.
Fitzpatrick also had a nice completion to DeVante Parker on a play-action play in which Parker ran a double move route. That one gained 18 yards.
We saw both of those many times last season and Monday’s practice suggests the Fitzpatrick-to-Gesicki and Fitzpatrick-to-Parker train will continue to roll in 2020.
But Fitzpatrick also had a couple of bad-Fitz moments. He delivered one pass behind free agent rookie Kirk Merritt in individual drills. And then he tried a bomb into double coverage that was bobbled seemingly by everyone before falling harmlessly incomplete.
Look, Fitzpatrick is expected to be the team’s starter in 27 days when Miami plays its regular-season opener at New England. And he did nothing this practice to change that projection.
But neither did he do anything on the first day in pads to mark his territory as the unquestioned starter.
Now, about Tagovailoa.
He delivered some nice throws, including a 40ish-yard completion to Jakeem Grant, during individual periods where there was no rush and it was a receiver one-on-one versus a defensive back.
But he was betrayed multiple times, including once by Grant, by his receiver’s drops.
There were at least three passes Tagovailoa delivered that hit receivers in their hands or chest and then fell to the ground instead of going for nice completions.
His ball had velocity to every area on the field., including the deep out that the left-hander delivered to his right.
But if you’re expecting the description of an electric play that started with an amazing throw, there simply wasn’t one. Yet.
Now it should be noted here that some of the receivers Tagovailoa was throwing to this practice, as he works mostly with reserves, are not of the caliber he delivered passes to last year at the University of Alabama.
The Dolphins don’t have someone like Henry Ruggs III or Jerry Jeudy or Devonta Smith running with the backups. Those guys and Tagovailoa made each other look great playing for the Crimson Tide.
Perhaps if Dolphins coach Brian Flores decides to let Tagovailoa and maybe even Rosen throw to more accomplished receivers such as DeVante Parker during practice, the passers would look more explosive.
That’s not what Flores was looking for Monday.
“Obviously it’s the first day in pads. We’ve seen a good amount from these guys, I would say, over the last two practices, which where more O vs. D and team oriented,” Flores said before practice.
“I want to see them get guys in and out of the huddle, good communication, good execution, good fundamentals at their specific position — just from a footwork, ball placement, accuracy, those types of things. We’re still in the early stages. Obviously it’s a new offense. We’re trying to execute at a good clip early on.”
Well, if that was the standard Monday then mission accomplished.
If the standard was deliver a wow pass, then nice job Josh Rosen.
This story was originally published August 17, 2020 at 12:32 PM.
