Dolphins Mailbag Spotlight: Why Is Tua Such a Hot-Button Issue?

Diving into the question of why quarterback Tua Tagovailoa is such a polarizing player among Miami Dolphins fans

From time to time, we'll pull out a question from our weekly mailbags that deserves more space than normal.

This question comes from CanesForLife (@JodyTipps): I don't know if Tua will be elite, but man why is he such a hot-button issue for everyone?

There are several angles from which to attack this very important question, one that's been pertinent almost since the day the Miami Dolphins made Tua Tagovailoa the fifth overall selection in the 2020 NFL draft.

Just scroll through Twitter or Facebook on any given day and you'll see some intense back-and-forth conversations, sometimes attacks, from fans with very conflicting views of the Dolphins quarterback.

Maybe this is recency bias or maybe simply a product of social media in the 2020s, but we can't remember a more polarizing player with Dolphins fans — and this is from someone who first followed the team in the early 1970s and has covered them on a full-time basis since 1989.

The one player who comes to mind as maybe being even this close to Tagovailoa in generating extreme views on opposite sides was Ricky Williams, though that had nothing to do with his ability but rather his availability — or lack thereof — in the aftermath of his sudden retirement before the start of training camp in 2004 and his drug-related league suspensions.

More recently, Ryan Tannehill also drew strong opinions from both supporters and detractors, but nothing like what we're seeing with Tua.

Why Is Tua So Divisive Among Fans?

Well, the simple answer here is that social media lends itself to extreme opinions along with a lack of tact in many instances.

To make a point, it seems, it's never enough to just say that Tua has everything he needs to become a successful quarterback in the NFL or there's reason to be skeptical he'll ever reach elite status.

Instead, what we often get is Tua is going to be a star, book it, or Tua sucks.

As with so many things these days, there's just very little nuance and the answer very well might end up being somewhere in the middle.

The Truth About Tua After Two Years

The divide when it comes to Tua certainly applies as to how he performed in his first two seasons.

On the one hand, you'll have some fans pointing to his record as a starter and tell you his underwhelming passer rating was the result of many factors beyond his control, whether it be coming back from his 2019 hip injury, the lack of quality receiving options, a bad offensive line, a head coach who didn't necessarily believe in him, etc.

All those factors may have some validity, but they don't change the fact that Tua didn't really look the part of a franchise quarterback in those two years and the won-loss record had a lot to do with the defense providing an awful lot of help.

Tua has had some really good moments in his first two seasons, including a hot stretch last season, but then there have been some rough spots, highlighted (lowlighted) by the game at Tennessee this past January.

Everyone is entitled to his opinion as to whether Tua has the goods to become a franchise quarterback, though nobody should pretend to know for sure.

Maybe the biggest problem here is the way that Justin Herbert has been lighting it up for the L.A. Chargers after the Dolphins passed on him to take Tua instead. Maybe if it weren't so obvious already that Herbert is a franchise quarterback — and there is ZERO debating that — those not on Tua's side might go easier on him.

Getting Personal

What's always baffling from this end is that any non-endorsement or questioning of Tua as a potential franchise quarterback is almost viewed as a personal attack.

As a perfect example, one recent question for the mailbag was: Why do you hate Tua?

First off, why would I hate Tua? Secondly, why would anyone think I hate Tua? Because I refuse to anoint him as a future star? Because I will not hesitate to point out areas of concerns (sub-par arm strength, ability to make plays off schedule)?

None of it is personal.

It was bad enough during the Deshaun Watson speculation that some fans were going as far as to suggest they would stop following the team if the Dolphins got rid of Tua, which begs the question: Are those folks Dolphins fans or Tua fans?

Ultimately, all Dolphins fans should want the team to succeed and — news flash — so does every Dolphins beat writer. If you need the last part explained, it's always more enjoyable to cover a winning team, covering the playoffs is a highlight and, yes, the team winning big is good for business.

But, speaking of the media, to perfectly illustrate what kind of divide exists when it comes to Tua, there's a split among those who cover the Dolphins on a regular basis as to whether Tua can become elite, though it does seem a little bit more in Tua's corner.

The Marino Factor

We'd be remiss not to mention the elephant in the room, and that's obviously the Dolphins Hall of Famer and the team's quest to find that kind of elite quarterback.

No, having an elite quarterback is not a prerequisite to winning a Super Bowl because Nick Foles, a badly declining Peyton Manning and Joe Flacco recently started for championship teams. But it greatly increases the margin for error and it also makes it a lot easier to be a perennial contender.

Going back to Marino, maybe some Dolphins fans decided right then in that 2020 draft — shoot, even before that when Tua was in his final year at Alabama — that he was THAT guy and they refuse to let go of that idea.

And on the flip side, maybe Tua detractors — or doubters, if you prefer — just have decided he just doesn't impress enough physically to ever be that kind of guy.

Thus both sides remain anchored in their position, convinced they're right.

The truth is we need to let things play out a bit more to have that answer. As I wrote a few weeks back, the Dolphins can't wait forever to get an answer before they need to find somebody else.

But as we stand in fairly early May, nobody can know for sure how things will play out.

That, however, won't stop anyone from having opinions and in this case those opinions go from one extreme to the other. And that probably won't change anytime soon.