The Miami Dolphins' swift playoff exit on Saturday jumpstarted offseason questions swirling around the future of quarterback Tua Tagovailoa.
The former first-round pick heads into the final year of his rookie contract, a fifth-year option set to pay $23.171 million in 2024. The big question for Dolphins general manager Chris Grier is whether Miami secures Tua long-term with a massive extension this year or lets him play out the season with the franchise tag as a fallback option.
Grier said on Monday that the club plans for Tagovailoa to be the QB "long-term."
"We've had conversations," Grier told reporters, via the team's official transcript. "Like we said, we wouldn't talk throughout the season in terms of contract stuff, but we've stayed in touch with his agent and had good conversations throughout the year. We never talk about money or anything, just good conversations about where he is and the relationship with (head coach) Mike (McDaniel) and the team here and everything he's done. So the goal is to have him here long-term playing at a high level. That's always the goal and we'll continue to communicate with him through the offseason here. Like we've always said in the past, you guys know me, we don't really talk in the media through all that stuff, so we'll just keep all those talks internal and with his reps."
Grier's response is typical for a post-campaign press conference. Even if the GM were considering moving on from Tua, it would do him no good to say so in Jan. 2024.
The Dolphins will say all that is needed by their actions.
If Miami truly believes in the Pro Bowl QB, a long-term contract will come at some point this offseason -- generally, those deals get done ahead of training camp. If the brass continues to have questions, they'll let things play out, knowing they can wield the franchise tag in 2025 and 2026.
Tagovailoa answered one big question in 2023: staying healthy for an entire season after injury concerns overshadowed his career. Tua passed for a league-high 4,624 yards in 2023 with 29 TDs, tied for fifth-most, and threw 14 INTs, tied for fourth-most. A disappointing end to the season included struggles against playoff-caliber opponents. Miami scored fewer than 20 points in its final three games, including a season-low of seven in Saturday's loss in Kansas City during Super Wild Card Weekend.
The QB said following the loss that he feels no "pressure" about the future.
Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel said on Monday that the only thing he's concerned with is Tagovailoa continuing to develop as a signal-caller.
"I just want to see him make sure the curve continues to be exponential in his growth," the coach said. "We've seen at every stretch of the way him improving. That doesn't mean it's void of a result that isn't desired. But what we've seen is him learn from all the things that he goes through. I think that's the one thing that I can say in my two years of experience with him, is he's as good of a learner as I've ever seen. Take jiu-jitsu, or throwing left-handed, or etc. I think that's what I want to see, is that continued thirst to find different ways, while maintaining and growing your confidence, to always create new edges in your game.
"Is Tua going to be a zone-read option quarterback? No. But I think he has developed in some -- like buying extra time when necessary. I think that will continue to improve where you can just maybe move off the spot a little bit and not necessarily run for a first down, but you can extend the play. I think those things improve with a lot of things -- the continuity of an offensive line group that you learn where guys are generally blocking from the launch point, and so then you know your safe spot is in the pocket. All these things, it's all about progression. I think he just needs to continue to do what he has been doing in terms of progressing and I'll be very much happy with that."
Entering the offseason projected to be some $40 million over the salary cap, Grier will have big decisions with several pending free agents this offseason. Extending Tua to lower the QB's $23 million cap number in 2024 is one option for the Dolphins if they intend to keep him around beyond the next season or two. If they don't make that move with his contract, it will speak louder than anything said Monday afternoon.
