5 CRITICAL NFL TRAINING CAMP BATTLES PART 4

BY ADAM GREENE

While we throw around the word “battle” a lot discussing these training camp competitions, sometimes there’s not much “battle” to them. Reality has to take hold at some point and a head coach needs to make a decision that will help his team in the future, while maybe sacrificing games in the present.

Such is the case with our next match up…

RYAN FITZPATRICK vs TUA TAGOVAILOA
MIAMI DOLPHINS

The Dolphins opened up last season with the simple plan to tank their season in hopes of landing Tua Tagovailoa in April’s NFL Draft. To do that, they had a fire sale of past high draft picks and star players, picking up multiple first round selections in the process with which to build the new team around their rookie quarterback.

Only something happened that no one expected. Miami was bad, but not as bad as they tried to be. More than that, the head coach they hired, Brian Flores, was not only the right man for the job, but did one of the best coaching jobs in the league. The Dolphins had a 1-15 roster, but Flores willed them to five wins, which should have sank any hopes they had of landing the draft’s top quarterback.

But something else crazy happened too. “Tanking for Tua” didn’t have to result in the draft’s first round pick because Tagovailoa was jumped in the draft order after an historic season from Joe Burrow, who not only pocketed the Heisman Trophy, but hoisted the National Championship hardware as well.

As the poet Robert Burns once wrote, “the best laid schemes o’ mice an’ men gang aft agley.” In this case, the Dolphins plans didn’t gang agley at all. With Burrow going No. 1 to the Cincinnati Bengals their guy, the man they’d wanted from the start, fell right to them at selection No. 5. They had failed in tanking, sure, but they’d landed Tua anyway.

So then why is Tagovailoa, the potential franchise quarterback, in a battle at all? Because the guy Miami already has on the roster, Ryan Fitzpatrick, will be impossible for the rookie to fairly beat out in training camp. As good as Tua is, it’s just not going to happen.

Fitzpatrick is arguably the best back up quarterback in the league. He’s so good, in fact, that he’s cost wobbly starters jobs for years. He’s a smart guy, can pick up any system quickly and talented. There’s a reason he’s kept a job in the league for the last 16 years. He’s started 139 games and thrown for 32,886 yards and 210 touchdowns.

With this weird offseason and no rookie camp, mini camps, OTAs or preseason games, there’s just no way Tagovailoa will be able to legitimately knock Fitzpatrick out of the QB1 slot in any fair competition.

So I say don’t make it fair. Flores is in no danger of getting fired this season. His job is secure, so a couple of meaningless victories with Fitzpatrick gain him nothing. But putting Tagovailoa out there, gaining experience and winning over the locker room, will pay dividends in the future. And if Flores is as good a coach as he seemed to be last year, that future could be closer than most people think.

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