MIAMI _ Tua Tagovailoa's hip is fine.
And his game seems to be too.
There's no other way to interpret the Miami Dolphins' decision to cut Josh Rosen Friday, one of dozens of late-week roster moves to get Miami's roster to 53 players by Saturday's league-mandated deadline.
Tagovailoa and Ryan Fitzpatrick will be the team's top two (and perhaps only two) quarterbacks when the Dolphins open the 2020 season against the host Patriots in one week.
And Fitzpatrick, barring a shocking reversal, will be 1, while Tagovailoa will be 2.
Yes, it's possible the Dolphins claim a quarterback off waivers in the coming days. And even if they don't, they will almost certainly sign one to their practice squad, which has been expanded to 16 players due to coronavirus this year.
But whomever they add will not be close to ready to play by next weekend. So expect Tagovailoa to be active in New England _ and just an unlucky play away from appearing in a live-action game for the first time since suffering a major hip injury last November.
"Obviously from a health standpoint, we feel good about where Tua is," Dolphins coach Brian Flores said Saturday morning. "At the same time, we're not saying that Tua is No. 2; we're not saying that he's No. 1. We're going through it. We're still making evaluations. We're still looking at every possible scenario. We've got a bunch of guys who are going to be released; but yes, at the end of the day, we feel good about where Tua is and same as Fitz, and we're going to move forward with those two guys and we could potentially add another quarterback or someone at another position as well."
Credit Flores for refusing to name Fitzpatrick his starter, but anyone with a functioning brain who's been paying attention believes that's exactly who will get the nod against the Patriots.
Even Dolphins players need to work hard to keep up appearances otherwise.
"He's learning his plays watching film, watching Ryan," Dolphins guard Ereck Flowers said of Tagovailoa. "I think it'll be good for him, taking time to (learn). How he's doing things, he's been going about everything the right way. When he does get his shot, he's going to do well. He's going to do very well."
Privately, players are even more emphatic that Fitzpatrick is being prepared to start Week 1.
Dolphins coaches have taken that approach all offseason _ even before the COVID-19 crisis wiped out all of OTAs, minicamps and preseason games.
While Tagovailoa has shown steady improvement in practice, he's basically just five weeks into his NFL career. Even if there weren't lingering concerns his health, the lack of a true offseason would have probably been too steep a challenge.
Of the four quarterbacks selected in Round 1 of April's draft, only Cincinnati's Joe Burrow is expected to starter his team's opener.
As recently as a few weeks ago, there were outside voices _ the loudest being former Lions quarterback and current ESPN analyst Dan Orlovsky _ advocating for the Dolphins to give Tagovailoa an unofficial redshirt season.
With Rosen on their roster, the Dolphins could have done just that.
They weren't in a position where they had to activate Tagovailoa without being 100% comfortable he's 100% ready.
His performance and durability during training camp convinced the team he is.
"He's had a good camp," Flores said. "He's been competitive. He's improved. I think if he had to go in, I think he'd prepare himself and do the best he could.
"Obviously he's shown improvement and right now I would say he's _ he's shown a lot of improvement," Flores continued. "If he had to go in and play, that's how it'd be. Now a rookie playing early on, we may have that at some other positions and if that were the case, then that's what it would be. But I don't like to speak in hypotheticals. I know everybody else does, but that's where we're at."
Added safety Eric Rowe: "He has an arm. He can put the zip on the ball. I noticed through camp he's gotten better with his eyes. Before, he was staring down routes. He's gotten a lot better with his eyes ... his progressions. He's only going to keep getting better."
