The Miami Dolphins, Chris Grier, and Brandon Shore are still playing games with the Tua Tagovailoa contract, much like they did with Jaylen Waddle's extension. As they wait, the price continues to go up. Tagovailoa was looking at Jared Goff's new contract not long ago, but now he is now looking at the contract that Trevor Lawrence received from the Jaguars.
Unlike Goff, Lawrence has never gone to a Super Bowl. Lawrence has, however, won a playoff game. In 2022, the Jaguars beat the Chargers to advance out of the Wild Card Round. They lost the following weekend.
Does that make him a better quarterback that is deserving more money than Tagovailoa? Let's take a look because there are reasons why you could argue the Dolphins star is the better player:
4. Tua Tagovailoa has a bigger impact for his team
Yes, Lawrence has won a playoff game, and Tagovailoa has not. Both players have played in the postseason, but Tua has led the Dolphins to two playoff appearances. The naysayers will argue that the final win to get into the 2022 playoffs was because of Skylar Thompson's win over the Jets, but that season was littered with concussions and missed games for Tagovailoa.
When he was on the field, Tua was 8-5 as a starter. Without him, the Dolphins only won one game against the Jets in Week 18. According to StatMuse, the Dolphins are 5-9 without Tagovailoa at quarterback.
Clearly, the Dolphins need Tua more than the Jaguars need Lawrence. Jacksonville is 1-0 without their starting quarterback. Tagovailoa led the NFL in passing yards last season and he continues to show his worth for this team.
3. Trevor Lawrence is more reliable (the reason Tua doesn't deserve more)
Tagovailoa has one more season as a professional than Lawrence, but has only played in three more games. Lawrence is far more consistent with his health. There are no concerns when it comes to availability and that could be a sticking point for the Dolphins in negotiations with their quarterback.
Since arriving in the NFL, Tagovailoa has missed 17 games. Some of those were healthy benches under Brian Flores. However, if we look at the year-to-year comparisons since Lawrence was drafted, Tua has started 41 games compared to Lawrence's 50.
The Jaguars, again, are not concerned about not having their quarterback on the field. He doesn't miss games and has remained healthy throughout his career in the NFL. When comparing the two quarterbacks, this is the only area that the Dolphins should have concerns regarding their quarterback. Whether it is a broken finger or a head injury, Miami may be wondering how they should progress with Tua, but they also need to understand that he played 17 games last year and led the team to the postseason for the second year in a row.
2. Tua Tagovailoa is better statistically
While both players have played a similar amount of games in the regular season, Tagovailoa has done more with his time on the field and if we are comparing apples to apples, when factoring in what the Dolphins will pay Tua or what he deserves, stats will easily back up his case for the same amount of money if not more.
- 66.9 completion percentage compared to Lawrence's 63.8
- 81 touchdowns compared to Lawrence's 58, this is quite a big difference
- Quarterback rating is 97.1 compared to Lawrence's 85
- 12,639 yards passing compared to 11,770 for Lawrence
While Lawrence has more rushing yards and touchdowns compared to Tua, neither team is paying for a quarterback that runs the ball with consistency. Unlike teams like Baltimore or Arizona where a running quarterback is part of the system's design, the Jaguars and Dolphins prefer a clean pocket passer.
1. Winning is important above everything else
The Jaguars have yet to win more than nine games in a season with Lawrence. Jacksonville's records with Lawrence are 3-14, 9-8, and 9-8. For the Dolphins, the team records have been 6-3, 7-5, 8-5, and 11-6. Those are just the games that Tua has started, not the team records.
With Tagovailoa, the Dolphins have won more games than the Jaguars have as a team, with or without Lawrence. The Jaguars have built a solid defense, have good running backs, and have adequate receivers, but so far, Lawrence has yet to lead them to double-digit win totals in any season since being drafted.
While both QBs have gone to the Pro Bowl, the best season of Lawrence's career was 4,113 yards passing in 2022. In 2023, Lawrence threw for 4,016 yards. On the other hand, Tua threw for 4,624 yards in 2023 and 3,548 yards in his concussion season of 2022 where he missed four games and parts of two others.
Both quarterbacks are good, but neither has won anything significant. At the very least, Tua deserves to be paid the same amount of money that Lawrence is making and possibly a little more.