Did Tua Contract Situation Get Even Trickier?

The Jacksonville Jaguars' extension for Trevor Lawrence won't make it easier for the Dolphins to extend their own quarterback

Quarterback Tua Tagovailoa during mandatory minicamp at Baptist Health Training Complex last week. / Sam Navarro-USA TODAY Sports

Remember Tua Tagovailoa's comment after a Miami Dolphins minicamp practice that "the market is the market"?

Well, the market has moved again and Tua now has another contract at which to point besides that of Jared Goff after the Jacksonville Jaguars reportedly signed Trevor Lawrence to a five-year, $275 million extension that includes $200 million fully guaranteed, $142 million guaranteed at signing.

The $55 million average on Lawrence's extension ties him with Joe Burrow for highest annual average, though that doesn't factor in his 2024 contract.

Goff's recent extension gave him $53 million annually over four years with $170 million guaranteed.

THE CASE FOR AND AGAINST TUA MATCHING LAWRENCE'S DEAL

From all indications, the Dolphins absolutely want to sign Tua to an extension, but the question all along has been how much they're willing to pay him and, perhaps more importantly, how much money they're willing to guarantee.

As has been discussed many times, no doubt Tua's representation will point to his statistics to show he's every bit as deserving as Lawrence and Goff of a massive extension.

Tua led the NFL in passer rating in 2022 and then led the league in passing yards last season when he made his first Pro Bowl appearance. Over the past two seasons, Tua's stats are hard to match.

But it's also absolutely fair to point out that Tua has the benefit of being surrounded by perhaps the fastest set of skill position players — Tyreek Hill, Jaylen Waddle, Raheem Mostert and De'Von Achane — and then there's the nagging issue of Tua's performance against playoff opponents.

While no one is suggesting the losses were on him, if an argument in his favor is the team's record with him as the starting quarterback, then it's also fair to point out he's got a 6-14 career record against teams that made the playoffs the year he faced them and ask whether Tua can elevate his game in those moments while elevating the team in the process.

There's also the durability issue, which remains (yes) despite the fact that Tua was able to play every game last season for the first time.

Take those for what you will, but national outlets everywhere have been putting out rankings of NFL quarterbacks this offseason, and Tua usually is tabbed as about the middle of the pack. One of the latest examples came from Pro Football Focus, which had Tua at 14, two spots behind Lawrence but also two spots ahead of Goff.

The question becomes: What would Tua get on the open market?

THE BIG QUESTION WITH TUA

The bottom line is that Tua is a great fit for the Dolphins and the Dolphins are a great fit for Tua, but how much would be too much when it comes to signing him for the long term?

The Dolphins do have Tua under contract for the 2024 season on the fifth-year option, but they clearly would have an unhappy quarterback on their hands if he didn't get an extension this year.

Tua already wasn't his usual happy, smiley self when he discussed his contract situation last week.

"Yeah, I mean, I'm not blind to to people that are in my position that are getting paid," Tua said. "Am I concerned about it? I'm not concerned about it. But there's a lot of discussion that we've, we've had that. You know, we just are trying to move that thing into the right direction, where we can both be happy.

"Well, I'll tell you one thing, the market is the market. If we didn't have a market, then none of that would matter. It'd just be an organizational thing, you know, didn't matter if that guy got paid that because it's up to the organization. So that's what I would say, the market is the market. That's it."

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