Miami Dolphins Head Coach Brian Flores is on the hot seat. With Deshaun Watson rumored to be coming in as his replacement, there are some growing concerns about whether or not he’ll survive the season intact.
The “miami dolphins head coach” is a controversial topic. The Dolphins are not sure what they will do with their future at the quarterback position, as rumors continue to swirl over Deshaun Watson’s availability in free agency.
For quarterback Tua Tagovailoa and the Miami Dolphins, things are getting peculiar in South Florida.
Not that there hasn’t already been enough conflict. Many people predicted that the Dolphins will be the club to beat in 2021. Miami, on the other hand, is 0-5 and in last place in the AFC East. Brian Flores, formerly seen as a promising young head coach, is under pressure to turn his squad around, and Tagovailoa’s career with the team seems to be in jeopardy.
Tua has the backing of his head coach, at the very least. It’s still unclear if he has the backing of the company as a whole, but at the very least, that’s a start.
What brought Tua Tagovailoa and the Miami Dolphins to this point?
The Miami Dolphins’ Tua Tagovailoa #1 meets with the media during Training Camp | Mark Brown/Getty Images
If you look at the Dolphins’ position objectively, it seems that the team is jumping the gun a little if it really has lost faith in its young quarterback.
After all, Tagovailoa was selected in the first round of the 2020 draft by general manager Chris Grier and his crew.
Tua was not just a first-round selection, but the Dolphins selected him with the fifth overall pick. Tua had been earmarked for investment. He was supposed to be the Dolphins’ “chosen one.” The quarterback who has the potential to lift the team out of the AFC East’s yearly doldrums.
With Tom Brady in New England and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the NFC, it seemed like Miami’s star was finally rising, particularly after Flores led the Dolphins to a 10-6 season in only his second season as head coach in 2020. Tagovailoa was benched twice and played quarterback musical chairs with veteran Ryan Fitzpatrick, but he showed enough promise to be named the starter coming into this season. As a rookie, he started nine games and threw for 1,814 yards and 11 touchdowns with just five interceptions. He was also a capable rusher, scoring three touchdowns on the ground. It was an up-and-down season for a rookie quarterback, but that’s to be expected.
With another summer under his belt, Tua and the Dolphins seemed to be on the rise. Deshaun Watson was then made available on the trading market.
In 2021, Deshaun Watson has become the dark cloud hovering over Tua’s head.
Coach Brian Flores (kinda) addressed the DeShaun Watson trade rumors, saying Tua Tagovailoa is the team’s quarterback and has “played two games” this season.
Flores seems unconcerned about the trade discussions detracting from his work. pic.twitter.com/A6MIXlG0fT
October 22, 2021 — Omar Kelly (@OmarKelly)
There is no denying Deshaun Watson’s ability as a quarterback. He’s a three-time Pro Bowler who has passed for 14,539 yards and 104 touchdowns in only four seasons with the Houston Texans, who are currently in a losing streak. He’s an excellent quarterback, which made his January desire for a trade from Houston all the more intriguing.
For a quarterback like Watson, most NFL clubs would pay a king’s ransom. There’s no denying his abilities.
Because of the 22 cases filed against him, there is some skepticism.
He has the skill to be an NFL MVP, but it’s unclear if he’ll ever play in the league again. That depends on if and when the NFL punishes him, as well as whether or not any of the lawsuits result in charges or other legal concerns.
Watson is capable of playing, but his future is so uncertain that Houston has purposefully decided to be one of the worst teams in the league by keeping him sidelined. For any possible trade partners, this is a huge red signal.
Any club interested in trading for Watson is taking a lot of chances. That didn’t stop speculations early this season that the Dolphins were interested in trading for Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson. The allegations were so widespread that Flores had no choice but to openly support Tagovailoa before the Dolphins’ season opener.
Though the hype has cooled down a little as of late, the rumor mill is once again churning, with a fresh story from the Houston Chronicle claiming that the Dolphins and Texans are close to reaching an agreement to bring Watson to Miami.
At the time of this writing, the allegation has yet to be proved false, but it seems to have gained enough traction that Flores felt compelled to come out and support Tua before of Miami’s Week 7 meeting with the 2-3 Atlanta Falcons.
Flores responded to reports regarding Watson and Miami by saying, “I don’t really get into rumors – Tua is our quarterback.” “We like our quarterback and our quarterback position. I’ll just leave it at that, as I’ve stated before.”
What are Tua’s and the Dolphins’ options moving forward?
Tua Tagovailoa of the Miami Dolphins and Deshaun Watson of the Houston Texans (L-R) | Michael Reaves/Getty Images; Robin Alam/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
To be honest, no one knows how this tale will conclude. One would imagine Miami wouldn’t make a move to get Watson in the midst of the Week 7 games, but stranger things have occurred. That doesn’t rule out the possibility of a deal being reached early next week…if it happens at all.
That’s the problem. We’ve seen a lot of smoke surrounding this prospective transaction, but no real fire yet.
Now, here’s what we’ve seen: Flores has always been in Tagovailoa’s corner, and despite his struggles this season, Tua still has the potential to be a good NFL quarterback. He wasn’t given the opportunity to completely grow as a rookie, and injuries have kept him from playing much of the first half of the 2021 season.
We still haven’t seen a large enough sample size to draw firm conclusions.
The fact that Justin Herbert looks like a multi-time MVP quarterback for the Los Angeles Chargers complicates the equation for Miami. Tua will always be linked to Tagovailoa since Herbert went to the Chargers one selection after Tagovailoa in the 2020 NFL draft. It’s debatable if that’s fair, but Grier and the Miami front staff seem to have made a huge mistake with that decision right now. Things may have been quite different for the Dolphins if Tua had been selected after the Chargers selected Herbert.
It’s not fair to Tua, but if Watson is allowed to play, Grier may be able to correct the problem and get his own superstar quarterback. The NFL trade deadline is November 2nd, so keep that in mind.
However, the book on Tua is still in the works. In an NFL culture that is notoriously impatient with rookie quarterbacks, it’s difficult to remember.
ESPN and Pro Football Reference provided the statistics.
RELATED: Tua Tagovailoa’s Era is Coming to an End Due to the Miami Dolphins’ Consistent Blunders
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