Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa indirectly played a pretty key part in Bryce Young’s career trajectory. But this weekend, he spoke about where the rookie goes from here—directly.
While taking in his first Pro Bowl appearance down in Orlando, Fla., Tagovailoa was asked about Young’s rough 2023 campaign. And although the numbers don’t tell a promising story, he believes his fellow University of Alabama product is on the right track.
“I think he’s done a tremendous job with his team,” Tagovailoa said, per Adam H. Beasley of Pro Football Network. “I think what people end up doing is they put too much on him, when it’s a team sport. It takes everyone.
“So Bryce can’t do it alone. And at a young age, I know he’s already realized that because he’s continuing to play his game regardless of what the score looks like and he’s been balling. So I just tell him to, you know, stay encouraged and keep the [faith].
“He’s capable of doing any and everything that any quarterback in this league does. Throws with anticipation, throws with timing, has good footwork in the pocket. You know, just the only thing that you know, that he lacks — just like me — just the size, just to see over the defenders. But outside of that, he has all the intangibles.”
This will probably be music to Young’s ears, who partly credited Tagovailoa with his choice to go to Tuscaloosa.
“I think as far as my college career, definitely was really big,” Young said back in October. “It was a big reason why I went to Alabama. It was a big transition from when he was there—just, what the offense looked like and what they kinda moved to offensively. And it’s flourished since then. And I was a recruit when all that was happening. So, that was a really, really big reason for me being there.”
While similar in style, size and background, Bryce and Tua were quite different in the box scores this season. Tagovailoa lead the entire league in passing yards while Young threw for a paltry average of 179.8 yards per contest.
But if Tua is right, Bryce will be closing that gap soon.
