New England Patriots: Evaluating AFC East quarterback competition

Tua Tagovailoa

Miami decided to move on from Ryan Tannehill after 6 seasons last year as he was traded to Tennessee. The Titans received Tannehill and a 6th round pick while surrendering 4th and 7th rounders to Miami. (A great move by Mike Vrabel and Tennessee by the way.)

Miami decided to bring in journeyman, but actually, pretty effective quarterback, Ryan Fitzpatrick, and also traded for young quarterback Josh Rosen. Fitzpatrick was joining his 8th team in a 13-year career with 62% completion percentage during that span of years.

His backup was Rosen who came over from Arizona after one year having been the 10th overall pick in the 2018 draft. Rosen flopped at Arizona and did little last season in three starts for Miami. That’s the bad news.

The good news is that Miami had the 5th pick in the NFL draft and they didn’t miss the mark. They chose Tua Tagovailoa from Alabama. Tua had been injured and only played 9 games in 2019. He suffered a serious hip injury and that had to be of concern to the Dolphins.

But, assuming they did due diligence on the medicals, they have themselves one whale of a quarterback prospect. In his 9 games last season, he completed 71.4% of his passes to go along with a superlative 33 TD passes and only 3 interceptions. He’s a star in the making if healthy.

So Miami has the reliable Fitzpatrick, the veteran, and the guy who could vault them into the next generation of Dan Marino-like success in Tua. Tua will get his chance sooner rather than later once cleared by the doctors. And the rest of the AFC East will not be happy.