LAS VEGAS — If Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa were here this week to play football and not guitar with Darius Rucker, he’d have all the leverage in this offseason’s contract talks.
Of course, that’s not the world Tagovailoa and the Dolphins live in, so it’s hard to see how he gets everything he wants out of Chris Grier this offseason.
But that doesn’t mean his team of representatives — led by Ryan Williams — won’t try.
Will Miami Dolphins’ Tua Tagovailoa Get Joe Burrow Money?
A report from NFL Media on Super Bowl Sunday gave an early hint of Tagovailoa’s negotiating position.
TL;DR? It’s a doozy.
Here’s the most interesting passage:
“Indications are both sides would like to get a deal done quickly this offseason so that it’s not a storyline that hangs over training camp or the regular season. But it might not be easy to negotiate, and it definitely won’t be cheap.
“Tagovailoa just set career highs in passing yards (4,624), touchdowns (29) and completion percentage (69.3) while starting all 17 games — notable durability for a player who had missed significant time in previous years, including with concussion issues in 2022. With the salary cap continuing to rise, Tagovailoa now has a strong case to push for a contract at or above Joe Burrow’s top-of-the-market $55 million per season.”
Translation: Williams is not interested in any sort of hometown discount.
Our take: Paying a player who isn’t as good as Joe Burrow the same or more than Joe Burrow is a terrible business decision, regardless of a moderate increase in the salary cap. (It’s expected to go from $224.5 million to roughly $240 million in 2024.)
When Burrow was negotiating his record-breaking $275 million extension last summer, he had already won five playoff games, reached a Super Bowl, and had proven that he was a difference-maker, particularly late in the season.
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Tagovailoa has done none of that. His next postseason victory will be his first. What’s more, Tagovailoa played his worst football when the games meant the most.
In the Dolphins’ season-ending three-game losing streak against the Bills, Ravens, and Chiefs — the AFC’s three best teams — Tagovailoa was bad. He completed just 56.7% of his passes in those games, averaging 5.9 yards per attempt with a passer rating of 66.5.
You simply cannot award a player with that body of work with the season on the line more than any other player in NFL history — which is what surpassing Burrow’s contract would do.
We’ve already been on record about what the Dolphins should offer Tagovailoa:
Four years, $180 million with $100 million guaranteed. That would put him in line with the inflation-adjusted contracts of Matthew Stafford ($46.6 million AAV if the salary cap when he signed was the $242.5 million it’s expected to be in 2024) and Daniel Jones ($43.2 million).
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