When we imagine the NFL like a high school classroom, the assumption is that everyone is crowded around the seats of Sean McVay and Kyle Shanahan, hoping for a glimpse at the test before it’s time to turn it in.
There’s no doubt that both of these coaches have contributed significantly to the forward momentum of American football. But lost in this discussion is the fact that—before Shanahan and McVay turn in their papers—both will also be looking at what Mike McDaniel has done as well. The NFL is a copycat league but some coaches tend to be copied off more often.
We bring that up on the heels of Tua Tagovailoa’s contract extension, which he signed Friday, making him the third-highest paid quarterback in the NFL in terms of average annual value, though the practical guarantees have Tagovailoa as the eighth highest-paid passer in the league.
The Dolphins are, essentially, tied to Tagovailoa for another handful of seasons because Tagovailoa has done so well since McDaniel’s arrival—and the subsequent arrival of Tyreek Hill—that he has pivoted from near castaway to borderline MVP candidate. We bring up the word borderline because, such as a few other quarterbacks who have signed extensions recently and are playing alongside really strong offensive-minded coaches, Tagovailoa leaves us with a pit in our stomachs. It could go well, for sure, but we could be left wondering if, because of extensions such as these, we never truly get to see the offense at its max potential because the team is married to the quarterback it elevated by virtue of its own scheme.
It’s not an uncommon story, especially lately. Jared Goff joined forces with Detroit Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson and showed the world that, along with the best offensive line in football and a top wide receiver, he could be a quarterback worth building around. But is he? And how much better could the Lions be with someone else? We won’t know.
Two years ago, New York Giants quarterback Daniel Jones joined forces with Brian Daboll and marginally connected with ownership’s fever dream of Jones becoming a franchise quarterback. He earned himself an extension that all but prevented the selection of his successor for at least another year and, by the time the team was close enough to snag a quarterback, there were a few clubs already waiting in line at the top of the draft. How much better could the Giants be with someone else? We’re about to find out.
Now we have Tagovailoa, who, statistically, carries all the benchmarks of a steadily ascending player. He has gotten better every year. He is experimenting with different ways to adapt his body to the NFL. He has displayed an incredible amount of both physical toughness when he takes a hit and mental toughness as the league’s poster child for most frequently questioned talent.
And, yet, there are these little moments that are impossible to ignore. Whether it’s when Hill is out of the game, or at the end of a long season where the Dolphins’ track team seems to be worn down and the moment is placed squarely on his shoulders, he seems to be lacking that take-it-over magic. When a play is out of structure, there are times when Tagovailoa appears to be treading water. Other times, the Dolphins look like they’d be better off taking a knee.
The same could be said, in one way or another, about Goff as he entered his final days with the Los Angeles Rams or Jones in the moments preceding Daboll’s arrival.
We are in a strange moment in NFL history where it seems, minus a few genetic-defying individuals, that the position is creating more existential questions about the health of the league than providing answers. In the place of a legion of 15 really good NFL quarterbacks, we are left with about four or five excellent ones and the rest dependent on consistently inventive schematics, marginal improvements made through advancements in coaching and technology and the whims of their owner and general manager (along with their ability to acquire surrounding talent).
Miami’s problem is not unique but there’s also no reasonable solution. Next to having one of these genetic-defying quarterbacks, the next best option is to hold on dearly to one good enough (because the dropoff between good enough and horribly bad is far worse than the one from genetic-defying to good enough). Of course, the problem with good enough is that it’s never as good as it can be. And as that problem uniquely pertains to the Dolphins, as good as it can be could be incredibly special.
My hope, like any sane and feeling individual, is that Tagovailoa continues his rise, proves us all wrong and shows us the outer realm of McDaniels’s play calling and play design capabilities. But in taking so long to get this deal done, it seems Miami’s powers that be have already shown us that they are not entirely sure that will happen. Like the Lions and the Giants before them, the only other course of action is to don the blindfold and jump.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Dolphins Take Familiar Leap of Faith in Extending Tua Tagovailoa.
