How Soon Will Tua Tagovailoa Get His Shot with the Dolphins?

In the sports world, people like to throw around the word “miracle” a lot, so maybe we should take the news that Tua Tagovailoa has completely recovered from his offseason hip surgery with a grain of salt.

Either way, it’s good news that the Miami Dolphins first round pick and presumed quarterback of the future seems all healed up and ready to compete with Ryan Fitzpatrick for the starting job as the season rushes toward us, global COVID-19 pandemic be damned.

“He (Tagovailoa) is doing miraculously well,” Kevin Wilk, an apparently “renowned” physical therapist working with the rookie quarterback told the Sun Sentinel. “The miraculous part is that he healed so well. The second part is, he’s been so well at getting his strength back, which usually takes a long time after something like this.”

Still, according to that same article the Dolphins’ doctors and coaching staff has yet to lay eyes on Tagovailoa first hand. In spite of that, there’s plenty of reason for optimism.

According to the article, Tua’s hip is completely recovered from its fracture and dislocation, his ankles are good and his arm remains strong after a focused program to maintain its strength as he recovered from his procedures.

Tagovailoa was a star player for Alabama and could very well be the same for the Miami Dolphins. He’s a smart kid and has put in the work required to be ready to hit the field running when the NFL finally does unleash teams to open training camps.

“He (Tua) is a little bit ahead as far as where we would like him,” Wilk said in the article. “We’re constantly trying to slow him down just a little bit because an athlete like that is just chomping at the bit just begging to get back out there. He wants to do more and more so we have to hold him back. And really, that was from the beginning. He always wanted to do more.”

But does that mean that Tagovailoa will get the chance to start Week 1 for the Miami Dolphins?

It’s hard to say. In the long term, there’s no question that Tagovailoa is the guy in Miami, but, he’s a rookie. There’s just no way he realistically beats Ryan Fitzpatrick out in camp. Fitz is too good. It’s why he consistently supplants weak starting quarterbacks when he lands on an NFL roster and why he’s headed into his 16^th year in the league.

If Tua is healthy, even if Fitzpatrick is the better option in the short term, the Dolphins would be smart to go ahead and start him. Especially in a winnable Week 1 game against the New England Patriots that could set the tone for the season and his career.

NFL quarterbacks don’t “learn” by sitting on the bench and practicing. They learn by playing. Head coach Brian Flores is in no danger of getting fired, regardless of the record the Dolphins post at the end of the season, so there’s no reason to float Fitzpatrick out there to steal some early season games. There’s no playoff run coming for Miami. Not this year.

So I say go with Tua if he’s 100 percent, have some fun and capitalize on a player that’s already one of the most popular in the league before he’s taken a single snap.

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