3. Opportunity for Tua Tagovailoa to grow and improve with the Miami Dolphins
The pocket presence was a bit of an issue for Tagovailoa in 2020 as the speed of the NFL is greater than college and it showed. Tagovailoa’s first career dropback in his Dolphins debut as a starter resulted in a strip-sack by Aaron Donald. The Dolphins eventually won that game but taking sacks didn’t stop there.
Arizona sacked the quarterback three times the following week but he was kept clean with no sacks in Week 10. However, a pitiful passing performance was worsened by six sacks against the Broncos in Week 11. That game saw Tagovailoa get benched, which made way for Fitzpatrick, who came in and led the way to victory.
Moving forward, Tagovailoa must improve his pocket presence to help out the offensive line. But he must also develop in terms of throwing his wide receivers open. While the Dolphins wide receivers ranked worst in the NFL in separation from coverage, the young quarterback has to help his guys out.
Simply put, Tua must get more out of his wide receivers. But of course, he’s not the only rookie quarterback in NFL history to struggle. Peyton Manning, John Elway and Steve Young all had first-year struggles before submitting Hall-of-Fame careers. There is a learning curve, especially for a player coming off a serious injury and with limited offseason preparation.