Miami Dolphins QB Tua Tagovailoa is now one of the richest people in all of sports after signing a huge extension with the team. One of the more controversial QBs in the NFL, Tagovailoa is now making over $53 million per year with the Dolphins, the team that took him in the first round of the 2020 NFL Draft out of Alabama.
The consensus opinion on Tagovailoa seems to be mixed at best. Some argue that he's not a high-end QB because he and his Dolphins team can't really play in cold weather and have made no progress in the postseason. Others think that yes, he is indeed a high-end QB and was paid like one.
Well, according to statmuse.com, Tua Tagovailoa actually ranks sixth in the NFL among quarterbacks with 34 wins over the last four seasons, which has been his entire career. He only trails Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson, Jalen Hurts, and Aaron Rodgers in QB wins. He's credited with 34 wins in 53 games.
Simply put, the Miami Dolphins win a lot when Tua Tagovailoa is starting.
And one could argue that the playoff success will come, right? I mean, the Dolphins are only in year three of the Mike McDaniel era, and did go from nine wins in 2022 to 11 in 2023. The progress has been linear and what you hope to get out of a newer head coach, and with the team now fielding the most talented roster in the Tagovailoa/McDaniel era, the 2024 season could be a good one.
You can hate on Tua Tagovailoa and the Miami Dolphins all you want, but the truth here is that the team is progressing how they should and the QB himself is playing the best football of his career. He's been one of the winningest QBs in the NFL since entering the league and does not even have a losing record in any of his first four seasons.
The Miami Dolphins were 100% right to pay Tua Tagovailoa over $50 million per year, as they also simply did not have another viable option available to them.