Phinsider Question Of The Day 08/20/2020

I like many of us was fairly sure that when the Miami Dolphins pulled the trigger this past April and made Tua Tagovailoa the number five overall pick in the draft that the question of who the quarterback of the future for this team would finally be settled, at least in the minds of the Miami Dolphins fans. But things rarely go how you think they will in this life and here we are again with another example. Three, well four days after today, into practices with pads we all of a sudden we seem to have a quarterback controversy.

Social media has blown up with the now Tua Tagovailoa Vs. Josh Rosen factions having it out....again. I figured these two sides would make up after the draft but the divorce still seems imminent. While at the same time, a notable beat writer, Omar Kelly, who some fans love and others have an immense distaste for is of the opinion that this is Ryan Fitzpatrick's team in 2020 and the Dolphins have all but stated this. I personally do not have an issue with Kelly as he has always been cordial and polite on social media with me even when the subject was much more controversial than sports. Now to his Dolphins opinions, they do seem biased at times so I do not always agree with his points or opinions but neither of us are the GM of the team so who cares?

I don’t know exactly what Omar is referencing (feel free to fill me in if you know) when he states that the team has let us know that this is Fitzpatrick’s team so I cannot opine as to if this is his opinion based on his interpretation of what has been said or something that was actually a leading statement made intentionally. Coaches make a lot of statements to the media. Some are their actual thoughts and beliefs on a subject and others are well calculated to motivate a player or players. Either way I don’t know how anyone on the staff could know who will be the day one starter with only three days of real practice.

This brings me back around to the controversy that is all over social media as to the two young quarterbacks. First off I don’t know that any of us can make much of an informed decision when we are only seeing snippets of video from the practices. The reports that have come out from those that I assume are at the practices, aka beat writers for the Dolphins, are all we have to roll with now that fans have no access to the practices and we have no pre-season games to see any of these kids in any sort of real action. Beat writers for their part become fans over time not to mention far too often become personal friends with certain players and their biases find their way into their work. Human nature!

The actual reports coming out of camp are that Rosen, for whatever reason has been the star of camp after just a few days. Tua, for his part has looked sharp and not missed any throws but all the talk is still about Rosen and how much better and sharper he looks versus last off-season giving rise to the newest controversy that has arisen. There are multiple theories that I have seen thrown out as to why Rosen looks all world all of a sudden.

One is that nothing motivates a player to get better than being threatened by competition. In this case it would be the Dolphins spending a first round pick on another young quarterback while Rosen most likely still believes in his draft status and his abilities. Another is that some kids just take some time for everything to click. And yet another theory is much like what we saw with Tannehill last season, some quarterbacks just need to be placed in the right system and that Chan Gaileys spread offense is more suited to Rosen’s talents. For Tannehill it took a great offensive line and a great running back but it’s still impressive that he ended last season with the highest QB rating in the NFL.

So to the Phinsider Question Of The Day which as usual will be a multi layered question. Lets say, for the sake of argument that these reports are all correct and Rosen had the light suddenly turned on and he’s now ready to show the world the talent that got him drafted in the first round to begin with. If he continues to just blow it up in camp it would seem foolish for the Dolphins to not give him the nod on day one. Beyond that what if he goes out and continues what he has shown in camp behind a rebuilt (and hopefully MUCH better) offensive line and in live game action during the regular season? No one benches a hot hand at quarterback.

What happens if he shows that he’s a stud top quarterback in year three that Arizona thought he was when they spent their first pick on him? (I know a bit of a redundant question) Teams tend to push for the guy that they spent a high draft pick on, in this case being Tua at number 5, but how do you not continue to go with the hot hand if that’s what Rosen gives you? Do we then resign Rosen and continue to develop Tua? What if they both develop by Tua’s second or third year, then what do you do? Neither one of them at their age are going to accept being a backup for very long if they both know that they have starting caliber talent? Do we trade away one for a package of picks? Do we try to somehow hold onto both? I don’t think this is possible for the previous mentioned reason but also because of the salary cap implications.

Then what about Fitzpatrick? And this is all assuming that he is resigned after this season. If one of the two kids are gone do we try and convince him to stick around for a four or five year deal to be the backup? Fiz, for his part also seems like a trade worthy commodity if a team headed for the playoffs has their quarterback go down for a few games or just has no decent quarterback to begin with. They say that this is the kind of problem that teams that need a quarterback like to have but if this potential scenario plays out the front office is going to have some very hard decisions to make. Beyond that the debates/arguments and even angry rants among the Dolphins faithful will continue so if this happens God help us all!

Give us your thought’s below-

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