Miami Dolphins: 3 things that must happen in order to win AFC East

#3. Tua Tagovailoa plays at least mediocre

As has been pointed out in plenty of our other articles and by every talking head on every sports show in America, much of the Dolphins’ future success will lie in the hands of second-year quarterback Tua Tagovailoa.

He wasn’t bad last year. But Tagovailoa had a mediocre rookie season given his draft position and the success of the quarterbacks drafted around him. This has created doubt towards his ability to be a franchise leader, though there was a multitude of factors working against him in his immediate progression in 2020.

In order for Miami to be able to compete for the division crown, they’ll need to knock off both of the first two items on our list. If they can do that, then the third requirement should be easy to come by.

If the defense plays like a top 5 unit and the offense stays relatively healthy, then the Dolphins won’t need Tua to be much more than he was last season. They’ll of course need him to expand the offense. But if he is able to keep his turnovers to a minimum and win twice as many games as he loses, then Miami will have plenty of opportunity to come out as champions of the AFC East.