Jason Sanders is the lesson in not extending Tua Tagovailoa too early
By Brian Miller
Jason Sanders continues to prove that Miami Dolphins general manager Chris Grier made a mistake, now they need to learn that lesson with Tua Tagovailoa.
For the Miami Dolphins, it should be lesson learned. Jason Sanders can be the poster boy for the wall. Sanders, drafted in 2018’s 7th round, started off his NFL career pretty good making 90% of his field goals. In 2020, he was named a First Team All Pro making 92% of his kicks.
In 2019, however, Sanders only made 76% of his kicks. Miami loved the rebound and signed him to a big extension ahead of the 2021 season. The contract runs until 2026 and will pay him just over $23 million. In the next four seasons, he will carry cap hits of $3.7, $4.1, $4.4, and $4.2 million.
In 2023, the Dolphins will likely, or at least should look for competition at the position. Releasing him will only cost Miami $3.6 million in dead cap space.
So how does this relate to Tua Tagovailoa? For starters, it’s all about what you do on the field. Since Sanders’ extension, he has made 74% and 82% of his kicks, missing yet another one on Sunday against the Packers.
The Dolphins were quick to jump all in on Sanders after an All Pro season. Miami can’t make the same mistake with Tua.
Tua has not shown enough consistency to warrant an extension. Next year will be his fourth in the league and the Dolphins should pick up his 5th year option but they also should not approach him about a new deal until the end of the 2023 season.
To be clear, there has been no rumors of a contract extension or talks outside of fans on social media but the Dolphins can’t begin those discussions internally. We simply don’t know what Tua really is as a QB. Like Sanders, there have been some flashes of greatness but Sanders also proved how quickly that fades.
Tua will be expensive because that is the way of the NFL right now. Quarterbacks are paid a premium and there are no discounts. Miami will shell out a record franchise QB contract when they re-sign Tua but so far, we haven’t seen enough to know if he will be worth the price or if the price will halt the progression of the team.
Luckily, the Dolphins have the rest of this year and all of next year to decide and then, maybe, another year should they need it. There is no rush to get a deal done or even discussed and in this case, paying more should Tua turn the corner of consistency, is worth the risk. What he is not is a quarterback that should be extended next season. No matter what happens in the rest of 2022.
Jason Sanders? Miami invested a lot of money in him and didn’t get what they paid for. He is just a kicker but we see how important a kicker really is. The QB is the most important position on the field and right now, Tua Tagovailoa is a question mark no matter how you look at it.