The Miami Dolphins may have finally kicked off the end of the Tua Tagovailoa era after a brutal Monday Night Football loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers, as Mike McDaniel made the decision to bench the former No. 5 overall pick in favor of seventh-round rookie Quinn Ewers.
With a new GM coming to town, and Mike McDaniel's job security remaining on very shaky ground despite the team's recent four-game winning streak, the idea of parting ways with Tagovailoa in service of a complete rebuild is starting to appeal to many fans.
In a league where you don't have any chance of winning without quality quarterback play, teams will likely try to jump at the chance of resurrecting Tagovailoa by trading for him or acquiring him on the open market if Miami bites the contract bullet.
However, anyone who wants Tua must learn the same thing Dolphins fans found out. When everything around him is perfect, like it was in McDaniel's first few seasons with the team, Tua can distribute the ball to his stars. When things start to go a bit off the rails, and Tagovailoa needs to elevate everyone else, he has consistently fallen short.
Miami Dolphins QB Tua Tagovailoa may not star for another team if he leaves Miami
Throughout most of his Dolphins career, Tagovailoa was coached by someone regarded as a brilliant offensive mind. Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle were as good as it got as a wide receiver tandem for a brief span, and De'Von Achane is quickly becoming one of the best backs in the game.
While he will almost assuredly have a better offensive line at his next spot, it seems hard to imagine a scenario where his offensive scheme is more innovative than McDaniel's while also giving him Miami's pass-catching talent. The physical consequences of his style of play are also hanging over Tua.
The combination of his repeated head injuries and the nagging hip injury from years back gives Tua a body that, in football parlance, is much older than 27 years old. With his subpar arm strength likely to decrease even further as his career goes on, Tagovailoa could be a very risky multi-year bet.
Some team is going to take a chance on someone with as much success as Tagovailoa has had in the pros, but they need to prepare for the reality that Tagovailoa's time in Miami was the apex of his professional career.