MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — Two things are simultaneously true for the Miami Dolphins:
- They are still committed to working out a long-term deal with Tua Tagovailoa, although the timeline on when it might happen is a bit fuzzy.
- They could take a developmental quarterback with one of their four Day 3 picks.
Miami Dolphins QB Plans for Draft, Tua Tagovailoa
Dolphins GM Chris Grier confirmed both facts during his annual pre-draft news conference Tuesday.
About the only thing Grier did rule out? Using the 21st overall pick on a quarterback — even though his current QB1 is in the final year of his rookie contract.
“I would say that’s not something I’m looking at in the first round,” Grier told reporters. “It’s not a position that we have been talked about. There are some good players, but we’re very happy with Tua and where he is with us. But at some point — I wouldn’t say we’re not gonna draft a quarterback at any point.
“We took Skylar [Thompson] here in the seventh round. We always look at opportunities for where you can add depth in your roster and I think that goes for across the board at any position.”
Grier later provided his first update in a couple of months on the status of the team’s long-term contract talks with Tagovailoa, who could fetch north of $50 million annually.
While other negotiations have had a hard Week 1 deadline — as to not be a distraction for the player or the organization during the regular season. That doesn’t seem to be the case with Tagovailoa, however.
Asked about the timeline, Grier replied:
“When it happens, it happens. We’ve had communications with him. I’ll just leave those between the organization and his representation. And it’s been good. So we’ll just keep working towards it.
“Him and his agent are very understanding that this now is the draft. So he’s letting us focus on that and, and it will turn our attention to that after this, after the draft finishes.”
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Asked where things stand with contract talks at his charitable foundation’s annual fundraiser last week, Tagovailoa replied:
“I definitely knew that question was coming. Just letting my agent deal with that and talk to the team about that. For me, my focus is when OTAs come like, hey, you know, go to OTAs, show up, and be the best teammate that I can be.”