Tua Getting 'Antsy' Over Contract Situation

The Miami Dolphins quarterback was very candid about his frustration about not having signed an extension at this time

Quarterback Tua Tagovailoa (1) throws the football during mandatory minicamp at Baptist Health Training Complex. / Sam Navarro-USA TODAY Sports

Tua Tagovailoa had a hard time coming up with the right word to describe his feelings about his ongoing contract situation Tuesday afternoon, but it was crystal clear the Miami Dolphins quarterback isn't happy.

After denying that he was concerned about getting an extension soon, Tagovailoa was asked what would be the right word to describe his thoughts and he just paused for a long time before cracking a smile, a rare sight during his particular media session (a change for the normal Tua press conference).

"I'm just wanting to get something done, that's it," Tua finally said. "Just wanting to get something done."

Asked whether he was concerned, Tua replied: "Not concerned. Concerned is not the right word, that's way off from the word."

How about antsy?

"Probably antsy in a way, yeah."

Pissed off?

"I wouldn't say pissed off. I mean, this is the nature of the beast, right? This is how it goes."

TUA WANTS MARKET VALUE

Something else that Tua made very clear is that he's looking to get the same kind of deal the Detroit Lions recently gave quarterback Jared Goff a four-year extension worth $212 million with $177 million guaranteed.

"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."

While Tua, who is scheduled to play on his fifth-year option in 2024 for $23.2 million, clearly is frustrated that an extension hasn't been done yet, but he did say there has been progress in the discussions between his representation and the Dolphins.

"From where we started, there's been a lot of progress," Tua said. "Now, you know, you can ask the other question, then why aren't we seeing you know, an agreement? Or that's the tough part about it. That's why it's business. That's why you got one side and the other trying to work to to meet in the middle."

Tua participated in the minicamp practice Tuesday, but only took snaps in seven-on-seven periods, the same thing he did in the two OTAs that were open to the media last week.

Tua, who would not have gotten fined for missing all of the OTAs but would have been subject to fines to skipping the mandatory minicamp, said it's not necessarily easy to keep the contract out of his mind when he's on the field.

"A hundred percent, 100 percent," he said. "For people that talk about business is different than personal, sure, like I can agree to some extent, but who you are as a person, for what you do business and personal is who you are with how you do everything. That's how I see it. That's how that's just how I look at it. And if not, like if you can be two different people at once like, hey, by all means you can do that, but to me that's just not how I am."

Tua is being kept apprised on the progress of negotiations by his agent, though he said he doesn't necessarily want constant updates if they're not significant.

As for the most important question, does Tua feel confident an extension will get done before training camp?

"I'm confident that a deal will get done," he said. "But then again, it's not in my control. You know, it's really up to both sides meeting in the middle with this."