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Tua Tagovailoa: Where the Miami Dolphins QB ranks in the AFC East

By Brian Miller

ORCHARD PARK, NY - SEPTEMBER 13: Josh Allen #17 of the Buffalo Bills runs the ball against the New York Jets at Bills Stadium on September 13, 2020 in Orchard Park, New York. Bills beat the Jets 27 to 17. (Photo by Timothy T Ludwig/Getty Images)
ORCHARD PARK, NY - SEPTEMBER 13: Josh Allen #17 of the Buffalo Bills runs the ball against the New York Jets at Bills Stadium on September 13, 2020 in Orchard Park, New York. Bills beat the Jets 27 to 17. (Photo by Timothy T Ludwig/Getty Images) /
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Dec 22, 2020; Boca Raton, Florida, USA; Brigham Young Cougars quarterback Zach Wilson (1) scrambles with the ball against the UCF Knights during the first half at FAU Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 22, 2020; Boca Raton, Florida, USA; Brigham Young Cougars quarterback Zach Wilson (1) scrambles with the ball against the UCF Knights during the first half at FAU Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports /

The Jets fans could probably have made an argument for Sam Darnold but it would have been a thinly veiled debated.

Zach Wilson has a lot of talent but we also must realize that while he is a rookie, his body of work in college wasn’t against big-time schools

In 2020, Wilson’s BYU team played Troy, Louisiana Tech, UTSA, Houston, Texas State, WKU, North Alabama, and Coastal Carolina who BYU lost to. They also played Boise State, San Diego State, and UCF. That’s a far cry from the SEC-heavy schedule that Tagovailoa played in his final season at Bama.

I’m not here to knock Wilson, I think there is really good talent there but Wilson’s stats in three seasons at BYU are not all that impressive.

  • 2018: 9 games, 120 completions, 182 attempts, 12 touchdowns, 3 interceptions, 1,578 yards
  • 2019: 9 games, 199 completions, 319 attempts, 11 touchdowns, 9 interceptions, 2,382 yards
  • 2020: 12 games, 247 completions, 336 attempts, 33 touchdowns, 3 interceptions, 3,692 yards

Obviously, we would expect a player to get better and he had a great season as a junior…against those teams, we mentioned above. In 2019, BYU played a little tougher schedule and lost six games, not all on Wilson.

While Chris Simms ranks Wilson above Trevor Lawrence in his top 40 QBs, and way ahead of Tagovailoa, it is easy to see that Wilson is probably more like the 4th best QB of the five in the AFC East, we are counting Mac Jones.

Until Wilson throws a pass in the NFL or a bunch of passes, we won’t know what kind of NFL player he will become.

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