NFL GM: I Would Let Tua Tagovailoa Play Out Dolphins Contract, Hit Free Agency

One NFL general manager told NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero that he would let Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa play out the remainder of his rookie contract, which is set to expire after the team’s fifth-year option runs out following the 2024 season.

Pelissero made his marks on the Rich Eisen Show (Eisen’s question preceding Pelissero’s answer begins at 1:30 mark):

“I talked to a GM for a different team this morning…what he said was, ‘I would let Tua play it out,'” Pelissero said when asked about teams resetting the quarterback market. “…The GM who called me this morning was saying like, ‘You can’t do a deal at that number, it’s gone too far.'”

The conversation comes after Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence landed a five-year, $275 million contract extension ($55 million per average).

Lawrence arrived in the NFL with tremendous hype as the No. 1 overall pick in the 2021 NFL draft, but he’s statistically a middle-of-the-road signal-caller right now. Last season, Lawrence finished 21st in passer rating and 18th in QBR, per Pro Football Reference.

Tagovailoa’s fared far better (fifth in passer rating and 10th in QBR last year), so with the market for franchise quarterbacks around $55 million right now, it’s fair for Tagovailoa’s camp to demand more.

“Now you have to look at this if you’re Tua’s agent and say [$55 million’s] the floor and we want to beat that, because Trevor Lawrence statistically has not done what Tua’s done over the past couple years,” Pelissero noted, while adding that $55 million is the baseline for quarterback deals to get done now.

That’s a ton of money for a non-superstar quarterback, hence the GM’s hypothetical hesitation to re-sign Tagovailoa if he had the choice.

There are reservations to signing Tagovailoa. For starters, he’s unfortunately dealt with numerous serious injuries over his career, including a dislocated hip and fractured posterior wall in 2019 (while at Alabama), several fracture ribs in 2021 and two diagnosed concussions in 2022.

But the other fact of the matter is that Tagovailoa appears to be a good quarterback but not a great one (although there’s still time for him to reach greater heights, of course).

And the AFC is led by great quarterbacks who are going to keep their teams in Super Bowl contention, such as Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson. As good as Tagovailoa is, he unfortunately may not be good enough to measure up to those players.

Of note, Trevor Sikkema of PFF ranked him 14th overall in an NFL quarterback list, Cody Benjamin of CBS Sports has him 12th and Derrik Klassen for 33rd Team has him 19th.

On the flip side, Tagovailoa just enjoyed his first complete season in 2023, starting all 17 games. That resulted in him throwing for a career-high 4,624 yards, alongside 29 touchdowns and a 69.3 percent completion rate. Miami enjoyed its best regular season since 2008, going 11-6.

Right now, Tagovailoa is going into the final year of his contract. If he agrees to an extension with the Dolphins, one has to assume it could be north of $55 million per year at this juncture. That’s a huge chunk of change for Miami, but the team can at least take solace in the fact that Tagovailoa has been very productive when healthy and should, at bare minimum, keep the Dolphins in playoff contention under his watch.