As he enters his third season in the NFL, Tua Tagovailoa continues to be a hot-button topic throughout league circles.
Through minicamp so far, Tagovailoa has been showered with praise from his new head coach Mike McDaniel along with his teammates on offense. But not everyone is convinced he’s a starting-caliber player and ESPN contributor Mike Tannenbaum is far from sold.
During an appearance on Get Up!, Tannenbaum blasted Tagovailoa claiming he’ll never be worthy of where he was selected.
“I don’t think he’ll ever prove to worthy of being a top-five pick,” Tannenbaum said according to The Miami Herald. “He has athletic deficiencies. So what he can do well is he’s accurate short underneath. He has good anticipation. They have to get the ball out of his hands quickly because as the pocket compresses, that exacerbates his weakness. It has to be a quick passing game, which does play to his strengths.”
One of the big counterpoints to the pedestrian start of Tagovailoa’s career is the subpar personnel on the offense surrounding him. This offseason the Dolphins have made several upgrades including signing All-Pro left tackle Terron Armstead and acquiring star wide receiver Tyreek Hill.
Despite these high-profile additions, Tannenbaum believes Tagovailoa will be the one holding the team back.
“I’ve never been in on Tua,” Tannenbaum said. “That’s why the Patriots are better than the Dolphins. They have the best Alabama quarterback in the division… Outside of Davis Mills and Mitch Trubisky, I’m not sure what other quarterback Tua would be in front of in the AFC.”
In 23 appearances through his first two seasons, Tagovailoa has a record of 13-8 as the starting quarterback and has thrown for a total of 4,467 yards, 27 touchdowns, 15 interceptions and has completed 66.2% of his passes.
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