When the Miami Dolphins made the decision to part ways with head coach Brian Flores after three seasons (two of them ending with winning records) on January 10th, the front office made one thing perfectly clear: this team, and almost all the decisions surrounding it, are going to be controlled by quarterback Tua Tagovailoa.
In the days after the firing, various news stories stated everything from Flores wasn’t a fan of Tua to Flores would have personally driven Tua to Houston if they could’ve traded for Deshaun Watson.
At this point, no one knows the truth because the powers in charge - and Tua himself - aren’t talking.
When Tagovailoa was drafted with the fifth overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft, there were some who thought he was going to be the next great quarterback in recent Dolphins history (well, the best quarterback since the only real great one they’ve had of late was Dan Marino).
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In his two seasons as the team’s main starter, Tua has started 21 games and has a record of 13-8. He’s thrown for 4,467 yards (an average of less than 200 yards per the 23 games total he's played in) to go with 27 passing touchdowns and 15 interceptions.
In his two biggest chances to prove himself as starter and get Miami into the postseason (the 2020 season finale at Buffalo and the 2021 Week 17 game at Tennessee), Tagovailoa threw for a combined 566 yards while throwing just one touchdown and four interceptions.
Given his struggles in the big game and being sacked a total of 40 times the last two seasons, it makes some wonder: why have the Dolphins seemingly married themselves to Tua for the long haul?
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His selection brought plenty of money in on jersey sales and ticket purchases, but is that enough to let any friction lead to the firing of the first coach to lead the Dolphins to consecutive winning seasons since Dave Wannstedt?
Is there a plan in place to help make Tua grow as the starting quarterback, such as improving what was a God-awful offensive line last season? If there is no plan right now, at what point will the management be ready to admit they may have made a mistake.
Whoever the next head coach is for the Dolphins will be someone who may not be hand-picked by Tua, but someone who at the very least is going to stand by the company narrative on the situation.
Not being honest about the issue and admitting the man wearing No.1 might not be the best option is starting off the new era on the wrong note.
