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Miami Dolphins Hall of Fame quarterback Dan Marino was making the Radio Row rounds on February 7 ahead of the 2024 Super Bowl and one NFL host asked him a blunt question about current Fins QB Tua Tagovailoa.
On a spot with Adam Schein of Sirius XM’s Mad Dog Sports Radio, Marino was asked if the Dolphins can win a championship with Tagovailoa. The legendary passer did not hesitate in his response.
“Yes, I believe so. Yes,” Marino stated with conviction. He went to elaborate on this opinion.
“[Tagovailoa] just needs to continue to grow, and I think he’s done that,” Marino reasoned. “He had the best statistical year of his career and the best in the league, I think. You just got to build on that.”
Before noting that he doesn’t want to make excuses for the underwhelming finish to the season, Marino added that injuries and “tough situations on the road” played into the Dolphins’ first-round elimination. “Sometimes you just got to get in the right positions and have the right people healthy, so you have a chance to get to the Super Bowl.”
Having never won the Lombardi Trophy himself, Marino certainly understands how tough it is to get to the NFL’s big game, let alone win it. The Dolphins legend went 8-10 in the postseason on his career despite a 147-93 regular season record — not to mention over 60,000 passing yards and 429 total regular season touchdowns.
Tua Tagovailoa Believes Dolphins Contract Extension ‘Will Happen’ This Offseason
For all the questions of whether or not Miami will stick with Tagovailoa long-term, the quarterback displayed confidence in the organization at the 2024 NFL Pro Bowl Games.
“I believe that will happen, but I’m gonna let my agents… Chris [Grier], Mike [McDaniel] — let those guys talk about that and let them move forward accordingly,” Pro Football Network reporter Adam Beasley relayed live from Orlando on February 2.
ESPN’s Marcel Louis-Jacques — who was also live at the scene — quoted Tagovailoa as well.
“There’s been communication,” the QB said. “I think the thing with that right now is I’m just letting the team talk to my agent and let them work that out.”
Beasley suggested offering Tagovailoa a four-year, $180 million extension on January 16.
“That would put him in line with the inflation-adjusted contracts of Matthew Stafford ($46.6 million AAV if the salary cap when he signed was the $242.5 million it’s expected to be in 2024) and Daniel Jones ($43.2 million),” the reporter explained.
However, it remains to be seen if Tagovailoa’s agents and the Dolphins front office are on the same page when it comes to the former first-round selection’s value.
Former Dolphins QB Dan Marino Jokes That He Could Throw for 6,000 Yards in Modern-Day NFL
Tagovailoa threw for 4,624 yards in 2023. That’s his best regular season total at the NFL level, and he was able to do it with the help of elite playmakers like Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle.
The NFL has also grown into a passing league over the past couple of decades, and retired quarterbacks like Marino have often hinted that it’s easier to put up big numbers now than it was in the 1980s or 1990s.
Despite that argument, Marino threw for 5,084 yards during his second professional campaign in 1984. He also passed for over 4,700 yards in 1986.
While speaking with the Pat McAfee Show on February 7, Marino was asked if he believes he could have achieved 6,000 or even 7,000 yards in a single season now — considering the records he set in his younger days.
“Yeah, you do think about [if you could do it],” Marino admitted. “The rules have changed and all that, but the one thing I would say is that we were kind of a little bit ahead of our time.”
The nine-time Pro Bowler and three-time All-Pro attributed that to having “really good players” around him. Then, he added jokingly:
“Do I now think we could throw for 6,000 yards?… I think, if you don’t have to prove it, you can say it. So, yeah, 6,000 yards.”
Another hypothetical — how many yards would Marino have thrown for inside McDaniel’s offense with Hill, Waddle and the current screen-explosion running back room that Miami flaunts?
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