Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa has expressed growing impatience over the slow pace of his contract negotiations with the team.
Tua has always been well-known to be a team-first player who never looks to ruffle feathers. That will surely continue to be the case.
Having said that, he’s reportedly becoming more and more frustrated with his situation, especially after watching other quarterbacks he deems to be at his level get rewarded handsomely.
The primary issue appears to be that the Dolphins have not yet offered Tagovailoa a contract on par with recent high-profile extensions signed by other quarterbacks, such as Jared Goff of the Detroit Lions and Trevor Lawrence of the Jacksonville Jaguars.
“This is complicated,” ESPN’s Jeff Darlington reported.
“I’m not saying that it won’t get done … but right now there’s five words that are looming over this contract negotiation, and they’re the words that came out of Tua’s mouth: ‘The market is the market.’
“Right now, the Dolphins are not offering the contract that is the market value, based on those other deals that were done.
“We’re not to panic point just yet … (But the Dolphins) are not in the Jared Goff and Trevor Lawrence ballpark.”
Goff secured a four-year, $212 million extension (averaging $53 million per year) with the Lions in May, while Lawrence received a five-year, $275 million deal (averaging $55 million per year) with the Jaguars earlier this month.
These figures have raised the bar for quarterback salaries, and only Joe Burrow of the Cincinnati Bengals earns more annually.
Tua, who led the NFL in passing yards in 2023, is set to earn $23 million in 2024, the final season of his rookie contract.
His participation in Miami’s voluntary offseason program was sporadic before he reported for mandatory minicamp.
While he did not confirm if his absences were related to contract negotiations, he made it clear he wants a deal to be reached soon.
“I’m not blind to the people that are in my position that are getting paid,” Tua recently said.
“Am I concerned about it? I’m not concerned about it. But there’s a lot of discussion that we’ve had that we are just trying to move that thing into the right direction where we can both be happy.
“I think there’s been a lot of progress at this point, from where we started. Now, you can ask the other question: Why aren’t we seeing an agreement? … I’ll tell you one thing: The market is the market.”
Drafted fifth overall by the Dolphins in 2020, Tua has been one of the NFL’s most productive passers when healthy, earning MVP consideration in each of the last two seasons.
Despite this, he has appeared in just one career postseason game and struggled against playoff-level opponents in 2023, a year after missing four weeks due to multiple concussions.
With reports that NFL owners are becoming more and more annoyed by the growing quarterback contracts, Tua is certainly an interesting case.
He is one of the most accurate passers in the entire league and is extremely productive on paper. However, the knock on him is that he shrinks when facing tough competition.
Not too many people put Tua in that truly “elite” class of NFL quarterbacks.
Of course, he can change that whole narrative with his play on the field. But you can’t blame the Dolphins for being just a little cautious when it comes to contract negotiations.
Speaking of which, what type of contract do you think Tua is truly deserving of?
Where do you rank him among the top quarterbacks in the league? … Do you think he’s truly capable of leading Miami to a Super Bowl???