Does Tua Tagovailoa need a playoff win to secure an extension?
250 Million. That is a crazy amount of money. In hindsight that is what it will take to sign a franchise starting quarterback. Franchise quarterbacks don’t just grow on trees or a solution that you can go grocery shopping for. Ask any Miami Dolphins fan and they can tell you all about the trials and tribulations of finding someone to replace Dan Marino.
250 million for 5 years, is estimated around 50MM cap hit for each respective year. That’s approximately 20% of your cap. However, it does allow General Managers to understand who they can potentially afford moving forward. Once you have your quarterback set, adding pieces is the next dimension that allows you to build out your team.
For Tua - do the Dolphins need to present this contract to him? This is what is at stake on Saturday night. In Tua’s past four seasons, the Dolphins made the playoffs twice. However, last year he wasn’t in a condition to take the field, based on his injury concerns. Fast forward to today, and tomorrow night will be Tua’s first taste of NFL playoffs.
With the game on the line, do the Miami Dolphins want Tua to have the ball? If week 18 was a sneak peek, then the Dolphins should be concerned. With the game to be won, the Miami Dolphins defense stood their ground. Got the ball back with less than 2 minutes left on the clock and an opportunity for Tua to put all the drama aside. What happened, everyone knows, was an interception that led to the Buffalo Bills reclaiming their AFC East Championship for the fourth consecutive year and more importantly a home playoff game.
If the Dolphins don’t win on Saturday, do Mike McDaniel and Chris Grier have a decision to make? Listen, Mike McDaniel has seen this before. A few years ago, Kyle Shanahan resigned Jimmy Garoppolo to a lucrative contract. Coach Shanahan knew the constraints on Jimmy and eventually traded three first-round draft picks to potentially select their quarterback of the future in Trey Lance.
In actuality, it didn’t work out for Trey, but it did for Brock Purdy. Basically, San Francisco made a bold move with the understanding that they didn’t want history to repeat itself. That history, one and done playoff exists.
Saying you want a new quarterback is easy. It’s actually sexy to say. But it’s hard. It's hard for fans to be patient. It's hard for a franchise that hasn’t hosted or won a playoff game in years. It's hard for a franchise that hasn’t made it to the Super Bowl in decades.
Do I believe in Tua? I have too! He plays for a team that I am all in on. What would a playoff win against the defending Super Bowl Champions mean to Tua -the answer is easy - 250 million.