People are wondering if Tua Tagovailoa can be a franchise quarterback. Does he have the arm...can he make the big throws down the field? I think it’s a big question for all of us...but I believe his ability to process information and his ability to be accurate on the intermediate stuff gives him a chance to be that guy. I talk about it all the time when I look at quarterbacks there's some kind of ratio that you have to get to be a franchise, to be a champion type quarterback. It starts with making the layups. There are some guys that make 95% of their layups and they only have to give you a little bit of special. There are other guys that don’t give you as many layups but they can give you a lot of the special. That’s the question to me with Tua: can he make enough of the layups? The throws he is supposed to make that he doesn’t have to make all of these big throws down the field because I am not sure that’s who he is as a player. Not that he can’t make some of those throws, I don’t just think he can live in that world. So, here is what I love about the new offense that Mike McDaniels brought to the Miami Dolphins: it’s based around running the football, play action and being able to hit those short to intermediate throws. It’s based upon movement off of the play fakes. Getting the quarterback out in space. Tua is really good out in space. Then, taking those shots down the field off play action. Again, he has got enough arm to make throws down the field. It’s just a matter of do you want to live in that world where you are asking him to do that every single time out. I love the way this offense fits with Tua as a player at this point of his career. Let’s go into the tape and show you what I’ve seen in these couple preseason games that he has played in.
A lot of good stuff there by Tua. A lot of stuff that he does well that is going to fit perfectly into this offense. Really good at play action, turning his eyes and finding the right guy, quick release when he gets set, gets the ball out quickly and definitively. As with the other young quarterbacks, when they are stuck in a drop back mode, how quickly is he able to get from 1 to 2 and work through the progressions. On those deep throws with Tyreek Hill, can he clean up his technique so he can get the ball out there? Greatest strength is NOT a cannon arm. But you have to bring your technique with you, especially when you’ve got a fast guy, or we are going to see things like that. The ball could hang up in the air. Those are things that can turn into incompletions, interceptions, by not bringing out feet and our power to the party when we have got fast guys that are running away from the football. Some things to watch this year, I think this offense is going to fit him really well but we want it to see growth in certain areas than what we have seen in preseason. #tuatagovailoa #miamidolphins #nfl
