The Miami Dolphins' apex during the Mike McDaniel-Tua Tagovailoa era was euphoric. Unfortunately, it never translated to any playoff victories, in part due to Tua's repeated concussions and the Dolphins' inability to weather the frigid elements down the stretch of the season.
Tua is now playing in the friendly confines of a dome home stadium with the Atlanta Falcons. Although he has the inside track to the starting quarterback job, he hasn't been announced as the QB1 yet, despite his competitor, Michael Penix Jr., recovering from his umpteenth knee injury.
If there were doubts about Tua in the wake of his unceremonious, near-$100 million dead money exit from Miami this offseason, they're even louder now. Whether we see Tua hit the field in Friday's Falcons-Dolphins matchup at Hard Rock Stadium or not, Miami fans are sure to have a strong, probably vitriolic reaction to his general presence.
As the odds stack to a seemingly insurmountable degree against Tua, though, one retired Dolphins Pro Bowler is still holding out a lot of hope for the embattled quarterback.
Ex-Miami Dolphins left tackle Terron Armstead is the driver (and perhaps only occupant) of the Tua bandwagon
In an interview on The Rich Eisen Show, Terron Armstead was asked whether he believes Tua Tagovailoa will revive his career in Atlanta, and the stud left tackle emphatically answered in the affirmative:
"I strongly feel like he can. [...] He is not necessarily looking to prove it to people. I think he wants to prove it to himself and really just confirm to himself that he can do it at the highest level. The way it ended in Miami was not up to his standard. He does not feel okay with it, and he desperately wants to get that bad taste out of his mouth."
While it may appear as if Tua is unbothered by the outside noise or doesn't let on that he has a chip on his shoulder, how can he not? Miami paid him so much money to go kick rocks!
Armstead seemed to imply that Tua is pressing too much. Whether it's a perfectionist streak or being bothered by the negative buzz around him matters not. The important element to take from Armstead's next bit here is his conviction that if Tua can just get back to playing within himself and capitalize on Atlanta's offensive weapons, he'll be in good shape:
“You want to silence the noise...and all of it starts to amount to just too much. If he can just take that deep breath, [...] let it fly. Play ball. Because he can. And he has done it at a high level. [...] They got a lot of weapons. A lot of weapons. I would love to see Tua utilize those weapons.”
I mean...I don't know which weapons Armstead is referring to. He makes it sound like the Falcons have a bunch of All-Pros running around. The only excellent skill players I know of are tailback Bijan Robinson and No. 1 wideout Drake London.
Suppose you could throw tight end Kyle Pitts in there, but he's always been rather inconsistent. Is that a function of Atlanta's perpetual instability at quarterback? Most likely. Will that perpetual instability be rectified by Tua's presence? Based on what we saw last year, I wouldn't count on it.
For Tua to capitalize on the dynamic pass-catchers the Falcons do have, that means he'll have to execute far more efficiently than he did in 2025.
However, it might be more mental than physical for Tua at this point. Or at least that's what Darren Waller has publicly said. Waller noted a while back that Tua would still ball out in Dolphins practices, only to get a little gun-shy in games.
I can't blame Tua for playing a bit skittish. The dude has been through a lot. Brutal concussions. It's impossible for injuries not to take some kind of psychological toll on NFL players, especially when it comes to head trauma.
An elite running back in De'Von Achane wasn't enough for Tua to cement himself as a franchise QB in Miami. With a first-round pick in Michael Penix Jr. competing with him for the starting job, and his career very much hanging in the balance, I'm not convinced Tua has the fortitude to step up and seize that QB1 gig.
But hey, what do I know? Armstead was around Tua quite a lot and knows what he's capable of better than any of us outsiders. It sure will be fascinating to witness the Falcons' QB competition unfold from afar.
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