There’s been some nice things said about Tua Tagovailoa at the offseason workouts. He knows the offense better. He’s got more confidence. He’s taking charge. The usual kind of stuff. Let’s hope there’s some truth in some of it.
Tagovailoa was pretty awful last year. He looked like he was just trying to avoid mistakes and get through his rookie season. He doesn’t seem to have a dynamic arm.
As I was playing around with the numbers, one caught my eye. There were 44 quarterbacks last year who attempted at least 100 passes. Tagovailoa was the only one of those 44 who didn’t have a 40-yard completion all year.
If you’re looking at 20-yard completions, he ranked next-to-last, with only 5 percent of his passes (about 1 in 20) resulting in a 20-yard gain. That comes in ahead of only Jake Luton.
Ryan Fitzpatrick also played about half of last year for the Dolphins. He actually attempted 23 fewer passes than Tagovailoa but finished with 9 more completions of 20-plus yards and 4 completions of 40-plus.
The Dolphins have added some big-play receivers in the offseason. They already had DeVante Parker, and they drafted Jaylen Waddle and signed Will Fuller. Tagovailoa will be expected to do a better job of creating big plays by getting it downfield to those guys.
| PERCENTAGE OF 20-YARD PASS PLAYS | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Att | 20+ | 40+ | Pct |
| Deshaun Watson | 544 | 69 | 11 | 12.7% |
| C.J. Beathard | 104 | 12 | 3 | 11.5% |
| Patrick Mahomes | 588 | 67 | 8 | 11.4% |
| Dak Prescott | 222 | 25 | 6 | 11.3% |
| Kirk Cousins | 516 | 58 | 7 | 11.2% |
| Josh Allen | 572 | 62 | 8 | 10.8% |
| Aaron Rodgers | 526 | 57 | 14 | 10.8% |
| Jalen Hurts | 148 | 16 | 3 | 10.8% |
| Taysom Hill | 121 | 13 | 1 | 10.7% |
| Derek Carr | 517 | 54 | 12 | 10.4% |
| Tom Brady | 610 | 63 | 12 | 10.3% |
| Philip Rivers | 543 | 56 | 8 | 10.3% |
| Matthew Stafford | 528 | 54 | 8 | 10.2% |
| Nick Mullens | 326 | 33 | 4 | 10.1% |
| Teddy Bridgewater | 492 | 49 | 8 | 10.0% |
| Lamar Jackson | 376 | 37 | 4 | 9.8% |
| Matt Ryan | 626 | 58 | 8 | 9.3% |
| Ryan Tannehill | 481 | 44 | 13 | 9.1% |
| • Ryan Fitzpatrick | 267 | 24 | 4 | 9.0% |
| Baker Mayfield | 486 | 43 | 5 | 8.8% |
| Drew Lock | 443 | 38 | 8 | 8.6% |
| Justin Herbert | 595 | 51 | 10 | 8.6% |
| Jared Goff | 552 | 47 | 6 | 8.5% |
| Cam Newton | 368 | 31 | 3 | 8.4% |
| Gardner Minshew | 327 | 27 | 3 | 8.3% |
| Joe Flacco | 134 | 11 | 3 | 8.2% |
| Russell Wilson | 558 | 45 | 11 | 8.1% |
| Drew Brees | 390 | 31 | 8 | 7.9% |
| Kyler Murray | 558 | 44 | 14 | 7.9% |
| Nick Foles | 312 | 24 | 2 | 7.7% |
| Sam Darnold | 364 | 27 | 2 | 7.4% |
| Mike Glennon | 179 | 13 | 1 | 7.3% |
| Jimmy Garoppolo | 140 | 10 | 3 | 7.1% |
| Ben Roethlisberger | 608 | 43 | 4 | 7.1% |
| Brandon Allen | 142 | 10 | 2 | 7.0% |
| Daniel Jones | 448 | 31 | 5 | 6.9% |
| Alex Smith | 252 | 16 | 3 | 6.3% |
| Carson Wentz | 437 | 27 | 6 | 6.2% |
| Mitchell Trubisky | 297 | 18 | 1 | 6.1% |
| Andy Dalton | 333 | 20 | 5 | 6.0% |
| Dwayne Haskins | 241 | 14 | 2 | 5.8% |
| Joe Burrow | 404 | 23 | 3 | 5.7% |
| Tua Tagovailoa | 290 | 15 | 0 | 5.2% |
| Jake Luton | 110 | 5 | 1 | 4.5% |
—Ian Allan