Getty ORCHARD PARK, NEW YORK - OCTOBER 31: Tua Tagovailoa #1 of the Miami Dolphins looks on before the game against the Buffalo Bills at Highmark Stadium on October 31, 2021 in Orchard Park, New York.
Former Alabama Crimson Tide quarterback Tua Tagovailoa has had a shaky first two seasons in the National Football League playing for the Miami Dolphins. At times Tagovailoa would look like the next great quarterback, and at other times he would look like the next bust. Entering his third season he will have a new weapon on offense to help with his woes. That player is a six-time pro bowl and Super Bowl-winning receiver Tyreek Hill who is with the Dolphins to start his seventh season.
Hill, recognized as one of the top receivers in the league will be joining Jaylen Waddle a second-year talent who was in the running for offensive rookie of the year in 2021 by leading the team in receptions, receiving yards and receiving touchdowns. With Hill coming aboard both are likely to make a mockery of the opposing defense.
Hill’s Praise Of Tagovailoa Is Positive Sign
Since arriving in Miami in late March after being dealt by the Kansas City Chiefs for a package of draft picks, Hill has become quite fond of his new quarterback. During a recent press conference, Hill stated Tagovailoa is “bringing a little more swag to the game” and “hyping up the team whenever he scores.” Hill also claims that Tagovailoa is acting as a good communicator to him thus far by talking to him after every missed opportunity during plays.
“Tua’s going to be Tua. He’s going to come out here, he’s going to give you the same thing every day — consistency,” Hill said. “Man, when he throws a touchdown, I don’t know if y’all can see it, when he’s walking to the sideline he’s like, ‘Yeah, yeah, yeah!’ And I’m like, ‘Bro, OK Tua, I see you.’ and I didn’t see much of that in OTAs because I barely knew him. But now, I’m seeing him sling the ball around. Even when I mess up a play or I don’t get open, he’ll come up to me like, ‘10, I need you to get open right here.’ And I’m like, ‘Dang, Tua. Chill.’”
Tagovailoa is known to throw a pretty spiraled pass as Hill reminds us. Last season with the Chiefs, Hill caught a career-high 111 passes, for 1,239 yards and nine touchdowns. While leaving Patrick Mahomes for Tagovailoa may not be the most enticing at first, Hill is ready to make the most of his new situation in South Beach.
What To Expect From Tagovailoa In 2022
After appearing in only 13 games during the 2021 campaign where the Dolphins finished 9-8 just missing the playoffs, Tagovailoa looks to bounce back and have the best season of his career. Tagovailoa has been with a franchise that has teeter tottered on the idea of him being their franchise quarterback, even flirting with the idea of signing Tom Brady in 2019 and 2021.
The Dolphins would soon regret that as the NFL would discipline them a week ago for violating the “tampering” rules in the league. Coincidentally, the Dolphins just so happened to have two joint practices with Brady’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers this week causing chatter all around. This naturally caused the media to circulate Brady and the long-gone possibility he could suit up for the Dolphins.
“I would say the only thing that gets frustrating is if you hear it every day or if you see it every day,” he told local reporters last week. “For me, I eliminate all of that. Don’t hear it. Don’t see it. I go home, go to my family, study, wake up the next day, come back and enjoy football. I hear everything obviously from the media and then when the communications staff preps me for whatever you guys are going to say, then I’m like, ‘Ah, I’ve got to answer this. All right, let me figure out something politically correct to say.'”
While Tagovailoa entertained the press, Brady avoided them at all costs to steer clear of any talk of the recent tampering incident he was involved in. In a season where Tagovailoa is eligible for a fifth-year option by the Dolphins, it is paramount that he not only has a good season but gets the Dolphins into or close to making the playoffs once again while staying healthy.
Between 2020 and 2021, Tagovailoa’s completion percentage and quarterback rating rose three percent to 67.8 percent and 90.1 percent respectively. According to Sharp Football Analysis, the Dolphins have the 19th toughest schedule entering 2022 near the middle of the pack. The site also puts their projected win total at 8.7 games. Usually, eight games are not enough to push a team into the playoffs, so Tagovailoa and the rest of the crew will have to outperform their projections in 2022.