Tua Tagovailoa is Dolphins’ savior sent to bring new glory days, if prophecy is true | Opinion
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Miami Dolphins 2020 season preview
The Miami Dolphins begin Year 2 of the Brian Flores era following a surprising five-win season with a loaded rookie class led by rookie quarterback Tua Tagovailoa and plenty of optimism that they can compete for the top spot in a revamped AFC East Division that saw the departure of Tom Brady from the new England Patriots.
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Belief in prophecy is interwoven in Samoan culture. Deep respect for family elders is, too. So a young Tua Tagovailoa took it to heart and believed his destiny had been set when as a boy he heard his grandfather, Seu, tell him:
“Your name is everything and one day it will be known all over the world. This is your legacy.”
Those never-forgotten words are why, today, above all else, the young man sent to save the Miami Dolphins says, “I play for my family’s legacy.”
His grandfather would pass away in 2014. Now the grandson is out prove him to have been a prophet. But can he?
Dolphins fans are counting dearly on it. They’ve been searching for Tua for more than 20 years.
Were it not for the once unthinkable happening — Tom Brady leaving New England and beginning anew at age 43 in Tampa Bay — Tua in Miami might be seen as the most intriguing quarterback situation in pro football as the NFL embarks on this strangest of all seasons, one played in a pandemic in empty or sparsely filled stadiums.
The fascination surrounding this young man preceded him to Miami, just as a documentary — “TUA: A Prophecy in the Making,” which premiered Sept. 6 on Fox — preceded his first NFL snap.
When you are a football player who is a native Hawaiian of Samoan descent born Tuanigamanuolepola Tagovailoa, you have people’s attention.
When you are a quarterback who was recruited into and excelled in Nick Saban’s championship-pedigreed Alabama program, you have football’s attention.
Tagovailoa has created more anticipation and buzz in South Florida than any Dolphins rookie quarterback since Dan Marino in 1983. He is the club’s highest-drafted QB since Bob Griese in 1967. Will he merit that Hall of Fame company?
Dolfans have been waiting for this young man — this kind of hope — ever since Marino played his final NFL game on Jan. 15, 2000, when Tua was a 2-year-old toddler on a far-flung island.
Five main factors make up the legend waiting for Tua if he can climb to meet it, and those start with:
▪ The Exceptional Talent: His first season of varsity football in high school, he threw 33 touchdowns vs. three interceptions. At Alabama he won a national championship and threw 87 TD passes against only 11 interceptions. His accuracy (71.4 percent completions last season) is Drew Brees-esque. He entered the NFL as the fifth overall pick by Miami — and likely would have been No. 1 if not for ...
▪ The Injury: On Nov. 16, 2019, during an Alabama game at Mississippi State, Tua suffered the sack that would cloak his future in doubt. A knee driven into the ground caused his hip to dislocate and fracture the posterior wall. He is now medically cleared and has been practicing fully with the Dolphins, but the serious injury and circumstance created ...
▪ The Mystery: Tua was invited to the pre-draft NFL Scouting Combine but could not participate because he was not yet medically cleared. He planned to participate in a pro day in April but that was canceled by COVID-19. The NFL offseason was interrupted and limited by the pandemic. The preseason was canceled altogether. Whatever team drafted him would be taking a leap of faith. That happened because of ...
▪ The Dolphins’ Dire Need: Miami has not won a playoff game since the 2000 season (only four teams have longer active droughts) and has reached the postseason but three times since. The main reason? Quarterback, lack of. Thirty one of the 32 teams have had a Pro Bowl QB in the 2010s (27) or 2000s (four) — this century, in other words. More than half of all teams (17) have had a Pro Bowl arm within the past three seasons. The lone exception to the expanse of premier passers? Miami. The Fins’ last Pro Bowl quarterback was Marino in 1995. A quarter century ago. That Tagovailoa would be the anointed savior to end this drought is doubly interesting because of ...
▪ The Left-Handedness: Estimates are that roughly 10 percent of people in the world are left-handed, and it’s far less among NFL quarterbacks. “We’re an extinct species,” former lefty QB Matt Leinart told the Washington Post in 2019. In fact Tua will be the first in the NFL since 2017. There have been lefty throwers who became stars — these notable exceptions include Hall of Famers Steve Young and Ken Stabler along with Boomer Esiason and Michael Vick — but the southpaw QB remains a rare bird. And how’s this? Tua was a natural righty whose father, Galu, who is left-handed, changed his handedness from an early age to match his own.
Maybe Tua’s father was right in turning him left-handed.
Maybe his grandfather was, too, in his prophecy of Tua’s legacy.
The finding out begins. But when, exactly?
Every indication through preseason training camp was that veteran incumbent Ryan Fitzpatrick, 37, would start the season and that Miami planned to cautiously be in no hurry to unveil their quarterback of the future.
That assumption took a sharp turn when, in late August, Fitzpatrick’s mother passed away and he left the team to grieve, but he rejoined the team a couple of days later.
The star in waiting, Tua, turned 22 in March, one week before the coronavirus pandemic shut down sports and life as we knew it.
His youth and injury history, the canceled preseason and Fitzpatrick’s capability and mentoring all are reasons for the rebuilding Dolphins to have the “Handle With Care” sign up on their rookie QB. (Third-stringer Josh Rosen was released.)
Even under normal circumstances there is no set rule on when a highly drafted passer should be handed the ball in the NFL. The verdict is split.
There have been 25 QBs drafted top-five overall since 2000. Thirteen started Game 1 of their rookie season; 12 did not. Among those who did not, four didn’t start until midseason (game eight) or later and two — Carson Palmer and Philip Rivers — did not start at all as rookies.
The trend, though, skews toward highly drafted QBs being given the ball from day one. From 2000-08, only two of 10 were. But since 2009, 11 of 15 QBs selected in the top five started Game 1 as rookies.
ESPN NFL analyst Mike Tannenbaum — a longtime league executive who was the Dolphins’ vice president of football operations in 2015-18, believes strongly Miami should not rush Tagovailoa.
“Tua behind Ryan Fitzpatrick, who played for [Miami offensive coordinator] Chan Gailey in Buffalo, [puts Tua] massively behind,” Tannenbaum said. “It’s unfair to assume it’s even a fair fight. You judge Tua through the lens of 2020 and take it with a huge grain of salt. I would be in no rush. If you feel like this is the guy for the next 10 years, there is no rush.”
For the same reason, Tannebaum calls Cincinnati putting overall No. 1 pick Joe Burrow under center from day one “unbelievably unfair to Burrow’s future.”
Tannenbaum knows well the danger of missteps at the quarterback position.
One of those cost him his job in Miami.
The Dolphins lost Ryan Tannehill to a season-ending injury just before the 2017 season and were ill-prepared in scrambling to replace him.
“The thing that really keeps you up at night is the management of the depth chart at the quarterback position,” Tannenbaum says of his end here. “It’s hard to win when you sign Jay Cutler in August. When you try and take a guy off the couch who was in broadcasting and ask him to play at a high level. Reps mean a lot, and preseason means a lot. We were out there with the Brock Osweilers of the world, and it wasn’t good enough. Having more depth behind Ryan would have really helped us and, unfortunately, we fell short there.”
Quarterback is always the position that rivets the most attention, but this season that’s magnified by all the incoming high draft picks and all the veteran stars who changed uniforms in the offseason. Our 10 most intriguing 2020 story lines at the most important position from a national vantage:
1. Well, no duh. The G.O.A.T., Brady, leaves New England for Tampa Bay. Can he reprise his greatness?
2. Patriots sign Cam Newton to replace Brady. Will he give Bill Belichick the last laugh?
3. Cincinnati is giving overall No. 1 pick Burrow the ball from Day 1. Smart? Or risky?
4. Philip Rivers, at 38, takes over Colts after 16 seasons, 397 TDs and eight Pro Bowls with Chargers.
5. When will Dolphins transition from Fitzpatrick, and will Tua make a Miami a winner again?
6. Steelers’ Ben Roethlisberger makes comeback after missing most of 2019 injured. How much is left at 38?
7. Mile High hopes for Drew Lock’s first full season in Denver. He cracked the top 20 in recent league MVP odds.
8. Is this Dwayne Haskins’ last shot with Washington No-Names now that Alex Smith is cleared to play again?
9. In Chicago, shaky starter Mitch Trubisky looks in rear-view mirror and sees Nick Foles.
10. Onus on Sam Darnold is magnified with the Jets’ offseason signing of accomplished Joe Flacco.
The interest in how Brady does in Tampa and how Belichick fares without him transcends markets.
In Miami, of course, the arrival of Tua — the anticipation of what that could mean — overrides everything as this weirdest of seasons unfurls in a pandemic.
The Dolphins and their starving fans have not seen a quarterback arrive bringing such excitement and promise since Marino in 1983 — 37 years ago, unfathomable as that may seem.
The last time Miami spent a higher draft pick on a quarterback? Bob Griese, in 1967.
Griese helped win two Super Bowls. Marino electrified the NFL and shattered league passing records. Both of their names conjure days of franchise glory. Both of their numbers are retired. Both made the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Will this be the company Tua Tagovailoa is destined to keep in Dolphins annals?
Is a tectonic plate in franchise history about to shift and deliver long-awaited new glory days?
Maybe that was the bar his grandfather Seu imagined and set when he said those words Tua never forgot:
“Your name is everything and one day it will be known all over the world. This is your legacy.”
Soon, we find out what that might mean, and where it will lead.
This story was originally published September 4, 2020 at 9:00 AM.
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