With the quarterback market continuing to boom, all eyes have turned to the Miami Dolphins. Their signal caller, Tua Tagovailoa, is one of the players next in line for a massive contract extension.
Earlier this offseason, the Jacksonville Jaguars agreed to a five-year, $275 million deal with $200 million guaranteed. That puts him atop the quarterback market in annual value.
Coming in just below that was the deal Jared Goff agreed to with the Detroit Lions. His deal comes out to $53 million annually. Both players have been rewarded for the production they have provided in recent seasons, but the Miami Dolphins don’t seem eager to do the same for their quarterback.
According to Jeff Darlington of ESPN, there is pessimism about a long-term extension getting done with Tua Tagovailoa. That is unless he agrees to a deal that pays him below the market value that has been set.
“Right now, the Dolphins are not offering the contract that is the market value based on those other deals that were done,” said Darlington. “… Yes, that is the market. … Based on my conversations, they are not in the Jared Goff and Trevor Lawrence ballpark, and that to me speaks volumes about where the negotiations are right now,” Darlington said during a recent appearance on ESPN’s NFL Live. (H/T Dolphin Nation)
That is certainly an unexpected turn of events. The Miami Dolphins not being in the ballpark of what Lawrence and Goff received for Tua Tagovailoa does not bode well for a deal getting done any time soon.
This could lead to an extended standoff between the two sides, as the franchise tag may come into play next offseason. The only way for Tua Tagovailoa to prove he is worth the same as the other quarterbacks around the league is to continue playing at a high level.
Last season, he led the NFL with 4,624 passing yards and was named to his first Pro Bowl team. The season before that, Tua Tagovailoa led the league in touchdown percentage, yards per attempt, adjusted yards per attempt, quarterback rating, net yards gained per attempt and adjusted net yards gained per attempt.
The only thing that slowed the Alabama product down in 2022 was head injuries, as he suffered two documented ones. It will certainly be interesting to see how things unfold because there are no options readily available for the Miami Dolphins to turn to if they don’t believe in Tua Tagovailoa long-term.
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