A six-pack of Tua Tagovailoa notes on a Monday:
_ Should the Dolphins slow-play it with Tua Tagovailoa during his rookie season or should he play as soon as he begins to perform as well as _ or better than _ Ryan Fitzpatrick in practice? That's as important as any on-field question the Dolphins will face this season.
One person who spoke to the Dolphins' front office came away with the impression that while it's likely Fitzpatrick will begin the season as the starter, Miami isn't opposed to playing Tagovailoa as a rookie if he earns the opportunity at some point this season.
The expectation of Fitzpatrick starting the opener and beyond is based on the fact he has not only infinitely more experience than Tagovailoa, but five years of experience in offensive coordinator Chan Gailey's system, and also the fact that Tagovailoa cannot do on-field work with Dolphins coaches because of the lack of an offseason program. But if Tagovailoa impresses coaches, they're not at all opposed to playing him this season.
ESPN's Mel Kiper Jr. and few others have called for the Dolphins to keep Tua on the sidelines this season, but there is a growing number of national analysts who advocate playing him regularly as a rookie.
"You have to draft him to play," said NFL Network analyst Brian Billick, the former Baltimore Ravens head coach and Minnesota Vikings offensive coordinator. "Keep him on a 20 to 25 pitch count during the course of the game (as far as pass attempts, initially). Convert on third down, run the ball and watch him mature."
ESPN's Booger McFarland, who is being removed from the Monday Night Football but will have a prominent NFL studio job with the network, went a step further.
"I truly can't believe we continue to have this conversation about Tua and about redshirting," McFarland said. "If the Miami Dolphins doctors cleared Tua, he needs to be on the football field. One of the most valuable things is having a young quarterback on a (reasonably priced four-year) rookie deal because it gives your franchise so much flexibility. You've got to put him on the field and get him playing.
"The whole idea of redshirting? He's going to go through growing pain; there's going to be a learning curve. Why not go through that year one rather than year two, because if he sits all of year one, (then) year two is essentially his rookie year. So I'm not at all in favor of redshirting Tua. He needs to start sooner than later."
And ESPN's Tim Hasselbeck said: "The best way to get better is to be on the field and play in live game situations. How important is it (to play early)? It's important.
If he is cleared by the doctors, and they say there is not more risk by him playing this season than next season, you have to take the gloves off and say it's time to go, and let him get out there and learn and take hits and basically be like any other rookie that would really benefit from playing time. I think he would be prepared to play well in his rookie season."
Hasselbeck noted that he was "Eli Manning's backup his second and third years. Had Eli not played those nine games in his rookie season, he wouldn't have been close to the player he was in year three because there was so much learning."
And there's this from NBC's Chris Simms:
"I have a hard time thinking they're not going to play (Tua) if he looks good in preseason," Simms said. "Ultimately, Tua will be the starting quarterback in Miami, even this year. A guy like Tua and (Cincinnati's) Burrow have a leg up on the rest of the competition because they're so well schooled."
_ On the flip side of the argument are Kiper (who has said Tagovailoa shouldn't play at all in 2020) and ESPN's Dan Orlovsky, who keeps imploring Dolphins management with this request:
"I beg Chris Grier and Brian Flores," Orlovsky said. "I feel adamant about this. Do not rush Tua on the field just to get him necessary game reps. He was coached really well at Alabama. He's going to be mentally ready to play in the NFL at a high level and with speed. Allow him to get fully confident both physically and mentally in himself so he can take off ... running (in 2021). Patrick Mahomes played one game at the end of his rookie year."
The Dolphins, incidentally, are the only NFL team this century not to have a quarterback make the Pro Bowl. Dan Marino was the most recent Dolphin to achieve that, in 1995.
_ Clemson coach Dabo Swinney, on Tagovailoa: "He's got a little bit of Brett Favre to him, a little bit of Michael Vick in him. He's got that stuff that, you think you've got him, and he's got eyes in the back of his head. He spins out, and the next thing you know, it's a big play. He is so accurate in the pocket, and he's incredibly accurate on the move. He iis a big-time winner. He's a great person and a great teammate."
_ ESPN's Rex Ryan has called drafting Tagovailoa the biggest gamble in the history of the NFL Draft.
Does he still feel that way?
"To just dismiss these injuries, that's a real, real risk, the biggest gamble ever," Ryan reiterated. "This was a team that could make that gamble with five first-round picks in the next two years. So it made perfect sense."
Ryan said the Dolphins must protect him by acquiring behemoth offensive linemen _ a process well underway.
"You've got a small quarterback," Ryan said. "You look at what the Saints have done with Drew Brees protecting him. They got those big massive guys playing guard. The Dolphins adding Ereck Flowers in the offseason and that's one right there. The center (Ted Karras) from New England. It's a correct selection but you better make darn sure he's 100% before he ever sees the field. It's a great pick, but the biggest risk you've ever seen."
_ ESPN's Chris Mortensen said he believes it resonated with the Dolphins _ and had an effect on them _ when Nick Saban said the Dolphins shouldn't make the mistake they did in passing on Drew Brees, a decision recommended by team doctors.
And Mortensen mentioned that what left Alabama people so impressed with Tagovailoa _ beyond the game performance and how he comported himself _ was his work in practice.
He said Saban often had his offensive starters go against his defensive starters _ instead of ones against twos _ and "Tua many times has been magic in practice just when you think better players are on the defensive side."
ESPN's Kirk Herbstreit said: "The night before (the January 2019 national championship game), I was allowed into practice and when Tua came in, you could almost just feel the
receivers like, 'here we go.' And I was standing next to Josh Jacobs who wasn't practicing, and after watching Tua go down the field in a two-minute drill, Jacobs said, 'he's been doing that all year!'"
_ One of the incredible stats about Tua, as former Dolphins executive Mike Tannenbaum pointed out on Twitter, is he had more games where he threw four or more touchdowns (12) than he had total interceptions (11) throughout entire his career.
