The Dolphins started the Tua Tagovailoa era off with a bang, upsetting the Rams 28-17. While Tagovailoa wasn’t asked to do much thanks to a dominant day from Miami’s defense and finished with only 93 yards, Brian Flores‘ decision to bench Ryan Fitzpatrick for the rookie certainly didn’t backfire.
Speaking of that decision, we now have some more details on the Dolphins’ thought process. The fact that Miami owns the Texans’ first and second-round draft picks next April played a role, sources told Adam Schefter of ESPN.com. With the way Houston is circling the drain at 1-6, those picks figure to be very high. Apparently the Dolphins wanted to make sure they got an extra long look at Tagovailoa just in case they’re in position to take a top quarterback in the 2021 draft.
That reporting would seem to indicate that if Tagovailoa flops down the stretch, Miami very easily could draft another signal-caller next year. Unless the Texans finish with the first overall pick they likely won’t be able to get Trevor Lawrence, but Ohio State’s Justin Fields would be a very real possibility. The Dolphins of course just drafted Tagovailoa with the fifth pick this past year, but the situation certainly wouldn’t be unprecedented after the Cardinals just jettisoned Josh Rosen after only one year to draft Kyler Murray.
The Dolphins own those picks from the trade of left tackle Laremy Tunsil. Owners can often get trigger happy with a desire to satisfy fans and play the more exciting option, but despite some speculation to the contrary Dolphins owner Stephen Ross played no role in the decision to move to Tagovailoa, a source told Armando Salguero of The Miami Herald.
This wasn’t a spontaneous decision either, as Salguero writes that Flores and general manager Chris Grier had already made the plan for the bye-week switch before the team’s win over the Jets in Week 6. Next up for Miami is a date with the Cardinals for Tagovailoa’s first career road start.
Wow…i remember the Tunsill trade but didn’t realize its a 1st and 2nd…sheesh BOB that’s pretty bad. Smart move starting Tua in case you end up with a top 5 pick
It was actually 2 1sts and a 2nd … they traded the 2020 1st round pick and their 2021 1st and second for tunsil and stills and i want to say a 6th round pick
Is anyone else starting to suspect that maybe Bill O’Brien is really really bad at evaluating talent a d being a GM and coach?
even worse wth?!…I’m a huge Deshaun Watson fan but BOB really left the cupboard bare for whoever takes over…sux!
If they get the #1 they should trade down. Lawrence may or may not be better then Tua, but once you draft him you lose some leverage when dealing Tua.
if u get top pick u draft Lawrence. then u have two qbs then u can wait till someones top qb goes down then they can trade for tua . but I’d keep em both untill someone offers u two firsts for tua or close . then use both qbs . RG3 was a dud and was a high pick , I’d rather have two high draft qbs especially when u have a generation qb in the draft and tua had a bad injury and u don’t know if one hit gonna end things . me personally I think tua will be a bust I haven’t seen any bama qbs be any good in the nfl in a long time . doesn’t mean he won’t be but it’s my opinion.
You should see what 1st overall picks go for. As valuable as Tua or Lawrence is after being picked, a 1st overall pick is more valuable because it offers more control to the person who gets it.
The Murray trade only “worked” (I put this in quotes because we really should wait a few years to fully evaluate the ultimate outcome) because the Cardinals re-did their ENTIRE team from top to bottom for him. New offensive coach, tons of new weapons, re-signed offensive line, and a better running game cost them a lot of resources.
Generally this is not a good strategy to follow-jettisoning your top pick after not giving a chance and picking a shiny new toy to actually commit to. Remember, the Cardinals also fired Steve Wilks as part of the transition. Organizational turnover is not good for the players or staff, and should only happen if the current staff is hurting your future chances. The Dolphins are on the right track right now. Even though Tua didn’t play super well, they’ve put a lot of work into him and will need more than a couple of games to see what he really has.
Hard to believe that the Hopkins trade is only his 2nd worse trade he’s made in the past two years.
What was the 1st worse trade?
Never mind, it was the LT Laremy Tunsil trade.
People stumble over that all the time. They always assume that it was impossible to make a worse trade than the Hopkins trade. Sad but true.
You should see what 1st overall picks go for.
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Yup, I can see some team trading their entire draft for Lawrence. Or multiple #1 picks.
Man, how did Houston go from 11 win, to 10 wins, to maybe the second worse team, PLUS having given up their two top picks? An implosion of epic proportions.
I’m shocked Andrew highlighted
Flores name so I could look at his college statistics. Nothing
to see here…..
Be satisfied the link didn’t lead to Tom Flores.
Benching Fitzpatrick for 93 passing yards and a losses fumble is pathetic.