After securing his long-awaited contract extension with the Miami Dolphins, the pressure’s on for quarterback Tua Tagovailoa to deliver when it matters most.
On Friday, the 26-year-old agreed to a four-year, $212.4M deal with Miami, the richest contract in team history, as first reported by NFL Media’s Ian Rapoport. Tagovailoa becomes the seventh quarterback to join the $50 million per year club and the third-highest-paid player annually in the NFL.
Although he led the league in passing yards last season (4,624) en route to earning his first career Pro Bowl selection, Tagovailoa’s extension is a massive risk for the Dolphins. There’s no denying that Tagovailoa is one of the more productive quarterbacks in the league. However, he’s set to be paid like one of the NFL’s elite passers despite not having proved that he actually is one.
While he silenced some of the criticism surrounding his durability, which followed him early in his career by playing in all of Miami’s 18 games last season, Tagovailoa still hasn’t shown he can excel in meaningful games.
In 2023, Tagovailoa led the Dolphins to an 11-6 regular-season record, but his play varied greatly depending on the level of competition. Against teams with a losing record last season, Miami went 10-1, compared to its 1-6 mark when facing winning teams, including playoffs. As per CBS Sports’ Jeff Kerr, the high-powered Miami offense, which averaged 29.2 points last season, scored just 16.1 points per game in its seven meetings with playoff teams.
Football may be the ultimate team sport, but Tagovailoa’s lackluster performance late last season contributed significantly to Miami’s failure to clinch the AFC East title as well as its one-and-done playoff exit.
Across his final three games last season — a stretch during which Miami went 0-3 and posted a -63 point differential — Tagovailoa threw for just 609 yards, four touchdowns and five interceptions. In each contest, Tagovailoa was outplayed by his counterparts, Baltimore’s Lamar Jackson, Buffalo’s Josh Allen and Kansas City’s Patrick Mahomes.
Typically, there’s no shame in losing to the NFL’s top three quarterbacks, but when you’re making more money than them, which Tagovailoa is, you’re expected to produce when the stakes are the highest.
Sure, injuries played a role in Miami’s late-season collapse, but Tagovailoa’s struggles weren’t an outlier. In December and January games throughout his career, Tagovailoa is only 10-11 as a starter, throwing with 25 touchdowns and 19 interceptions over that span.
Considering he has arguably the league’s top wide receiver duo in Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle, a brilliant play-caller in HC Mike McDaniel and a dominant running game on his side, Tagovailoa’s shortcomings are all the more concerning.
He may have a top quarterback salary, but Tagovailoa still has to prove he’s worthy of being considered as one. If he doesn’t, the Dolphins are doomed to be mired in mediocrity for the foreseeable future.