The strangest part of this Miami Dolphins’ offseason?
It’s not that they publicly vow marriage to Tua Tagovailoa while privately eyeing other quarterbacks, as one national report says. It’s not that they fear for Tagovailoa’s health in a manner they’re downplaying and so are exploring the possibility of Lamar Jackson or Aaron Rodgers.
It’s not even that you can expect Tagovailoa to remain the Dolphins quarterback, because this franchise doesn’t have the apparent capital necessary to trade for Jackson or Rodgers.
Here’s the strangest part:
The Dolphins’ big worry from the start of another offseason involves not hurting Tagovailoa’s feelings. As if this isn’t a cold-blooded business every offseason. As if they shouldn’t always consider upgrading every position starting with the most important one.
Is this an NFL team or a therapy session?
The Dolphins are, “exploring all options at quarterback,” veteran Josina Anderson of CBSSports HQ reported, and the reaction to such a natural idea was strangely but predictably loud.
Some fans clamored it’s a lie. Some reporters repeated general manager Chris Grier and Mike McDaniel have repeatedly insisted Tagovailoa is the unquestioned starter for 2023. The background chorus to everything was it would go against this past year’s message in building Tagovailoa a cocoon of confidence.
Do they not understand pro sports — or, at the very least, the franchise they follow?
It was just a season ago that Grier loudly denied reports the team chased Deshaun Watson to the point of negotiating with women accusing the quarterback of sexual misconduct to sign non-disclosure agreements. But team owner Steve Ross did talk with Watson’s lawyer about that subject, according to the lawyer, Rusty Hardin.
A few months later, the Dolphins were penalized a first-round pick — that would look especially valuable right now — for Ross tampering with Tom Brady.
There are no alleged sexual charges or skirting of league rules involved in what’s playing behind closed doors right now. They’re just doing their job with some diplomatic gamesmanship. McDaniel’s job this past season was to find out who Tagovailoa was. He did that fully, from showing the high ceiling to the quarterback’s game to the involved athletic questions and health concerns .
This leads to another uncomfortable lie the Dolphins have played this offseason: That they aren’t very worried about Tagovailoa’s health from his three, on-field head traumas.
Some inside the franchise are seriously worried, a source said. Why wouldn’t they be? And why wouldn’t they then look at what a trade for Jackson or Rodgers would involve? And how couldn’t they consider offering … well, that’s where the real problem looks to be.
The Dolphins don’t have a first-round draft pick this spring. That would seem a starting point for any trade offer. The fact they had two such first-round picks a year ago tells how they mismanaged the situation and lost sight of the big picture (the tampering charge took one, the Bradley Chubb trade the other).
Trading for Jackson seems beyond their means. Baltimore has two versions of franchise tags to sign him to by Tuesday, but a couple of first-round picks would seem the starting point of any trade. The Dolphins also are $16 million above the salary cap. Even knowing cap space can be maneuvered, can enough be?
So, any idea of Jackson becoming a Dolphin involves the Pompano Beach native demanding to play in South Florida regardless of the other money offers out there. That’s a longshot. But why wouldn’t the Dolphins be in there examining it?
Rodgers will turn 40 next season and has a contract that pays $59 million. Those numbers lessen what Green Bay would get in a trade. Rodgers, like Jackson, will have some power over where he would land. But can the Dolphins expect to land him with no top draft pick?
Derek Carr? No team picked up his $40 million contract for next season when he hit the wavier wire. That’s no surprise and says what teams think of him.
The real surprise this offseason is people are surprised that the Dolphins would look into Jackson and Rodgers. The stunner considering their situation would be pulling off a deal for either one.
Tagovailoa shouldn’t be upset by any of this. He should be happy the Dolphins don’t have many resources and the position looks to remains his. Maybe the Dolphins even give the $23 million gift of a fifth-year contract option to smooth any bad feelings, because managing feelings seem central to the team’s relationship with their quarterback.
