Tua Tagovailoa continues to have the Miami Dolphins' confidence to lead their offense. However, general manager Chris Grier may have unintentionally warned the quarterback ahead of the 2025 NFL Draft. "I would say we have our starting quarterback. I wouldn’t rule anything out but we’re not looking to take a quarterback in the first round," Grier said Tuesday when asked about drafting a QB in the first round, via Marcel Louis-Jacques of ESPN.
The Dolphins made a big commitment to Tagovailoa by handing the Alabama Crimson Tide product a four-year, $212.4 million contract extension with $167.1 million guaranteed in July 2024. That was before Tagovailoa suffered another concussion in his career, with the QB missing four games of the 2024 NFL season for the Dolphins. Miami also missed him in the final two weeks due to a hip injury.
General manager Chris Grier of the Miami Dolphins looks on prior to the game against the Buffalo Bills at Hard Rock Stadium on September 19, 2021 in Miami Gardens, Florida.
The Dolphins, who drafted Tua with the fifth overall pick in 2020, still believe in him. However, since Grier doesn’t rule out bringing in a rookie quarterback at some point in this year’s Draft, Tagovailoa’s job won’t be completely safe unless he turns up his game in 2025.
Despite being aligned with the Dolphins’ support for Tua, Grier already showed frustration with Tagovailoa’s availability. Speaking to the media in January, the GM sent the QB a very clear message. "[Tagovailoa] needs to be available," Grier said. "He needs to know how to protect himself. Like, you’re going to get hit at times, it’s always going to happen, but he needs to control what he can control. He understands that not being available for taking chances and risk is unacceptable to us. And he knows that."
In five years in South Florida, Tagovailoa made more than 13 starts in only one season. After missing four games in 2021 due to ribs and finger injuries, Tua watched five games from the sidelines due to concussions in 2022, including the Wild Card loss to the Buffalo Bills.
Last year, the Dolphins went 2-4 without Tagovailoa as neither Tyler Huntley nor Skylar Thompson proved to be reliable alternatives at the position. This offseason, the Dolphins signed Zach Wilson in an intriguing move. Wilson, 25, was drafted second overall by the New York Jets a year after Tua joined the Dolphins. And even though his time in the Big Apple left a lot to be desired, the BYU product is looking to prove his worth after having limited opportunities on the Denver Broncos.
"I still believe I can be a starter in this league whenever that opportunity comes," Wilson said, via the Associated Press. "And so I just try to put myself in the best situation with the best team and coaches and do the absolute best that I can."
In a parallel development, Fox Sports has picked up the documentary "Culture of Winning: Polynesian Football Pride," which will premiere this weekend. The programmer has unveiled an official trailer showcasing Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, Variety can exclusively reveal.
Executive produced by and featuring Tagovailoa, the new documentary captures the success of Polynesian NFL players and the impact their sports success has back on their communities. Tagovailoa will be joined by Penei Sewell, Puka Nacua, Jonah Savaiinaea and Chris Henry Jr.
Following the announcement, Tagovailoa said in a statement: "I’m proud to share insight on what makes our Polynesian culture so special. We have a rich heritage of success in football. I’m grateful for the legends who paved the way, inspiring us current NFL players to believe our dreams were possible, and humbled to help mentor and inspire the next wave of Polynesian stars in the sport. I hope football fans will find it inspirational."
Fox Sports VP of development and original programming Barry Nugent also expressed excitement about the documentary. "Fox Sports is honored to partner with Tua Tagovailoa to celebrate the incredible Polynesian athletes who have made an indelible mark on the sport of football," Nugent said in a statement. "The film is a powerful celebration of faith, pride, perseverance and heart and furthers our commitment to telling impactful stories that resonate beyond the game."
"Culture of Winning: Polynesian Football Pride" premieres Sunday, April 20, at 2 p.m. ET. The documentary is co-produced by Goat Farm Media, P&G Studios, dentsu entertainment and SMAC Entertainment.
In another update, Tua Tagovailoa will have a new address in 2025, but it's a simple move within South Florida. The Miami Dolphins quarterback has just put up his 5,000-square-foot house in Davie on the market, according to a story on Realtor.com, but that's because he's buying a new place for himself, his wife and their two children.
No details have been surfaced about the new house, but Tagovailoa purchased the old house in Davie in 2020, the year he began his Dolphins career after arriving as the fifth overall pick in the NFL draft. That house, which sits on a 0.8 acre lot on a lake in a gated community, features an indoor theater and an outdoor putting green, among other things. It's listed at $3 million, almost double the $1.65 million Tagovailoa paid for it in 2020.
Head coach Mike McDaniel reiterated at the owners meetings late last month that the injury was unrelated to the one that ended his career at the University of Alabama prematurely. "It was important that his body healed," McDaniel said. "That time was really necessary for really what was a challenging injury to heal up. But yeah, it was again, I think I've said this, it wasn't the same college injury, trust me. It wasn't joint-related. It was soft tissue."
McDaniel also expressed confidence that Tagovailoa would improve his decision-making in terms of making sure to protect himself. "Well, it's the art of playing quarterback and utilizing a different skill that he's done at times, but you focus on the art of knowing when it's the time to take the risk of the extra hitch and only reserving that for a very specific time and every other time," McDaniel said. "It's a difficult task, such as the nature of any franchise quarterback in the National Football League. So it's something they have to really articulate and go through and talk through expectations on certain plays so guys can proactively play football."
