WATCH: McDaniel Discusses Tua Fifth-Year Option
INDIANAPOLIS — The Miami Dolphins have a lot of personnel decisions to make this offseason, but perhaps none has generated more conversation already than the one involving quarterback Tua Tagovailoa.
The Dolphins have until May 2 to exercise the fifth-year option on Tagovailoa and fellow 2020 first-round picks Austin Jackson and Noah Igbinoghene.
In the case of Jackson and Igbinoghene, it seems pretty obvious the answer will be a no based on their performance so far in the NFL, but with Tagovailoa, the issue is complicated.
On the one hand, Tagovailoa is coming off a breakout season, but he also was sidelined twice by concussions and his durability is a clear concern.
The Dolphins would have to guarantee Tagovailoa a $23 million salary for 2024, otherwise he would be on course to become an unrestricted free agent next offseason — though the Dolphins always could sign him to a long-term extension or use the franchise tag on him to keep from getting in the open market.
It probably wasn't a great shock that the first question to head coach Mike McDaniel when he addressed the media at a podium inside the Indiana Convention Center on Wednesday dealt with Tua and the fifth-year option.
Here's what McDaniel had to say:
"Like any other player you factor in every variable. I think one thing that you know when you're talking about those types of decisions, I think it's important to recognize that we have a congruence of interests by the Dolphins and the player, Tua, that both parties really want him to play at a very high level for a long time for the Miami Dolphins," McDaniel said. "So what's the best way to really engineer that or to help manifest that? Those are the things that we're kind of weighing in terms of the various options with the same desired end as Tua would like. You factor in everything as best you can. But you know, that's part of this game that we're all involved in is there are some unknowns. So you weigh those and you you press forward and make the best decision possible for the organization."
McDaniel was asked whether the Dolphins were close to make a decision.
"I mean, what is today's date?" he said. "It's in February. What's our deadline? So we would probably best served the utilize the time. That's kind of the way we're approaching it. But that doesn't mean that we're spending any long period of time not discussing it. This is something that Chris and I have been working through. We'll continue to work through."
