Whales Dolphins GM says they will hold more talks in Tua Tagovailoa about a deal.
General manager Chris Grier said Monday that the Dolphins want to keep quarterback Tua Tagovailoa in South Florida for a while. He put his money on himself, and it paid off.
Grier told local media that the two sides put off contract talks during the regular basketball season, but they will pick up speed this summer because Tagovailoa is entering the last year on his rookie deal.
“We’ve stayed in touch with his agent and enjoyed good conversations all through the year,” said Grier. “Never talked about cash or anything else; just had nice talks about where he is.” The plan is for him to stay here for a long time and play well.
“We’ll talk to him during the offseason. As we’ve always said, you guys remember me; we rarely spoke to the media during that time.” So, those talks will stay within the company and with his representatives.
This season, Tagovailoa had 4,624 throwing yards, which was the most in the NFL. It was the first full season of his four-year professional career. He also had the most touchdowns ever (29) and the best success rate (69.3%).
But in Miami’s last three games, including its defeat on Saturday from the Kansas City Chiefs within the AFC wild-card circular, he only threw four scores and five picks. In two of those games, he didn’t even get above 200 yards passing.
On Saturday night, when he faced the Chiefs, Tagovailoa completed a season-low 51.3% of his passes. He said he wasn’t worried about his upcoming contract talks and didn’t feel under any obligation to make a deal.
It doesn’t bother me at all. Tagovailoa said, “I trust myself completely.” “I’m sure of what I can do for our company, but right now we’re just thinking about tonight and what happened.”
That’s it for now. Let’s think about what we are able to do to make next year better. This season, Tagovailoa’s goal was to play in all 16 games. This was even more important to him than usual because he missed five games and was concussed twice in 2022.
He got ready for the toughness of the season via a power training program and a jiu-jitsu program during the off-season. Mike McDaniel, the coach of the Miami Dolphins, said he wants Tagovailoa to keep getting better over the next few months.
“I just want to see him ensure the curve continues to grow exponentially with his growth,” McDaniel stated. “At every step of the way, we saw him getting better.” That doesn’t mean it doesn’t have an outcome that isn’t wanted.
But we’ve seen him grow from everything that happens to him. I think this is what I want to see: a never-ending desire to find new ways to improve your game while keeping and building your confidence.
Tagovailoa’s deal ends in 2024, but Christian Wilkins, a defensive tackle, can sign with any team he wants this summer. “Wilkins earned the opportunity to be a free agent,” Grier said. The Dolphins will try to keep their first-round pick in 2019, though.
“He bet on himself shortly after a summer of talks in which we made a few offers. One of them was just right for us, and both he and his lawyer agreed, but we couldn’t close the deal in the end.”
I will keep in touch and see how things go, but he earned the privilege to be a free agent. I’m happy for him again. We picked him up here and helped him grow, and he’s exactly the kind of person we want. What will happen? Let’s see.”
The downtime has begun for the Miami Dolphins. They lost the game against the Kansas City Chiefs on the Super Wild Card Weekend, which was the end of their championship run.
QB Tua Tagovailoa’s deal situation will be one of the main topics of conversation for the team over the next few weeks as they get ready for the 2024 season.
The former first-round pick is in the last year of his rookie deal. However, Miami picked up his fifth-year option last summer, so the team will have control of him until next season.
His annual salary of $23.1 million is completely guaranteed. However, if he and the Dolphins don’t agree to some kind of deal over the summer, he will be a “lame-duck” quarterback.