If not Tua Tagovailoa then who for the Miami Dolphins in 2020?
By George Keim
The Miami Dolphins may be targeting Tua Tagovailoa but what happens if that is not a possibility when the 2020 NFL Draft rolls around? That’s a big question.
The consensus opinion around the NFL, both by experts and fans, is that the Miami Dolphins are “tanking” the season in an effort to obtain Tua Tagovailoa with the first overall pick. The big question is what happens if they don’t get that pick?
This week the Miami Dolphins will host the Washington Redskins in Miami. Miami is coming off their bye week while Washington is limping into town after a drubbing by the Patriots. It’s been a tumultuous few weeks for Washington as they’ve made not one, but two quarterback changes along with a firing of their head coach. Everything sets up for a Miami Dolphins victory.
The obvious problem with this is if the Dolphins win this football game, their inside track on landing the 1st overall pick takes a considerable hit. Washington would hold a two-game lead, if you want to call it that, in the chase for the top pick. That’s not what many fans want. This then lends itself to the question, if not Tua, then what?
Scenario 1 – The Dolphins use some of their draft capital to move up to the top spot to get Tua. It’s probably a safe assumption that the Dolphins will have one of the top five selections. So the cost to move up won’t be as much as some other teams, but it’s still not going to be cheap. If the Phins have to do this, they will quickly eat into the draft capital they’ve acquired. Not an ideal situation for a team that has seen the roster turnover they have. They need every pick they can get. The argument for this though is if Tua is the guy you want, and you believe he’s a franchise quarterback, then you have to do what it takes to get him.
Scenario 2 – Should the Dolphins not want to move up, they could take one of the next quarterbacks on the board, either Justin Herbert from Oregon or Jake Fromm from Georgia. Do the Dolphins like either of these guys like they do Tua? While both are talented players most believe it’s Tua who the Dolphins truly covet. From there the Dolphins can simply use the rest of their ammunition to obtain top tier talent at a number of different positions of need.
Scenario 3 – If the Dolphins miss out on Tua and don’t feel there’s another quarterback that grades out in the top 5, the Dolphins could simply proceed drafting best player available and forego the quarterback this year. There are blue chip players all over the top of this draft and the Dolphins have so many needs that the best player available strategy would easily work for them. They could stock up on blue chips and roll into next season with Josh Rosen as their quarterback. A full year in the system with what should be a better offensive line and another weapon or two, could be just what the franchise needs.
Scenario 4 – If the Dolphins can’t land Tua another strategy they could employ would be to continue to trade picks to accumulate future capital. If the Dolphins were in a position to draft the second qb of the draft they could trade that pick to another quarterback needy team for more picks. Picks they could potentially use on the number one quarterback in the 2021 who many believe will be Clemson’s Trevor Lawrence. This would also allow the Dolphins to continue to add young and hopefully talented players to the roster.
Obviously it’s only week 6 so there are a multitude of scenarios that still need to play out, but this week’s matchup against Washington may start to shed some light on the future. No matter what happens though, Thursday, April 23rd will be an exciting night for Dolphin fans.