Dolphins Name Tua Tagovailoa Full-Time Starting Quarterback

• Dolphins name Tua Tagovailoa full-time starting QB
• Team started 3-3 under Ryan Fitzpatrick
• Miami (+700) has the third-best odds to win the AFC East

The Miami Dolphins may be off to a surprising 3-3 start and in second place in the AFC East, but head coach Brian Flores isn’t getting complacent. Just two days after his team’s 24-0 thumping of the New York Jets, Flores has announced a change at quarterback.

Rookie Tua Tagovailoa, who came on late in relief of Ryan Fitzpatrick against the Jets, has been named as the Dolphins’ full-time starting quarterback. Miami has a bye this week before they host the Los Angeles Rams on November 1 in Week 8. The rookie will have two full weeks of practice time to prepare for his first NFL starting assignment.

His start against the Rams will come nearly a full calendar year after he suffered a dislocated right hip and a posterior wall fracture last November in his last game at Alabama.

The injury required surgery, and there were questions about whether the ailment would affect his draft stock. The Dolphins weren’t swayed by the medical reports, though, and Miami nabbed the former Crimson Tide signal-caller with the No. 5 overall pick in April’s draft.

Were it not for the injury, Tagovailoa may have been the top overall pick in the draft. He finished his three-year career at Alabama as the most efficient passer in college football history. He won the Maxwell Award and finished as the runner-up for the Heisman Trophy behind Oklahoma’s Kyler Murray in 2018.

Dolphins’ Surprising Call

The move is a surprise considering Fitzpatrick has played well to this point. The 37-year-old veteran has completed over 70 percent of his passes, and he owns the seventh-best QBR in the league. Fitzpatrick has thrown 10 touchdowns to seven interceptions while leading Miami to a solid start. The Dolphins crushed the reigning NFC champion 49ers last week before shutting out the Jets in Week 6.

Now that he is the backup, it’s worth wondering whether Fitzpatrick could garner some trade interest from potential contenders. A team like the Dallas Cowboys, which lost Dak Prescott for the rest of the season, makes sense as a prospective suitor for a veteran presence like Fitzpatrick.

Tagovailoa completed both of his pass attempts after entering Sunday’s game late in the fourth quarter. There were plenty of concerns about how well rookie quarterbacks would be able to adapt to the NFL game with no preseason games this year, but thus far first-year QBs have acquitted themselves quite well.

Joe Burrow has looked like everything the Bengals could have possibly hoped he’d be after being taken with the first overall pick, while Justin Herbert has played well enough to supplant Tyrod Taylor as the QB1 for the Chargers already. The Chargers took Herbert with the sixth overall pick, one spot after Miami grabbed Tagovailoa.

Dolphins Believe Tua Is Ready

Dolphins offensive coordinator Chan Gailey believes Tagovailoa is ready for the moment. After his debut against the Jets, Gailey said,

“Oh gosh, yes, you go out there and you look at it – he got under duress and made an accurate throw. He sat in the pocket on third down and made a throw for a first down. Those are positives. Those are real positives. For a guy that hasn’t played a snap, those are real positives.”

The Dolphins have brought Tagovailoa on slowly, and Flores has repeatedly cited how crucial the presence of Fitzpatrick has been to Tua’s early development. Fitzpatrick and Tagovailoa have reportedly bonded well in their first season together, and the former will now give way to the latter when the Dolphins play their next game.

Fitzpatrick was named as the Dolphins’ starter before the season began, and Flores did not put a timeline on how long he would remain in the job until Tagovailoa got his chance. Most expected the Dolphins to be among the worst teams in the AFC again this season, but the team’s surprising 3-3 start led many to believe that Fitzpatrick would keep the job as long as the team continued to play well.

Can Miami Make the Playoffs?

Despite the change of plans, the Dolphins still believe they can make a playoff push. Oddsmakers, meanwhile, aren’t quite as optimistic. Miami currently has the third-best odds to win the AFC East (+700), despite currently being ahead of the New England Patriots (+225) in the standings. The Buffalo Bills (-200) remain sizable favorites despite having lost two straight games entering Week 7.

Tagovailoa’s odds to win Offensive Rookie of the Year have improved dramatically since Miami’s announcement. He now has the fourth-best odds (+1000) of any player, behind Herbert (+125), Burrow (+200), and Minnesota Vikings receiver Justin Jefferson (+700). Tagovailoa has nudged past Kansas City’s Clyde Edwards-Helaire (+1100) and Indianapolis’ Jonathan Taylor (+1600).