Why Miami would be crazy to give up on Tua Tagovailoa so early in his career

Terez Paylor & Charles Robinson discuss Miami Dolphins players anonymously criticizing QB Tua Tagovailoa in the Miami Herald. Tagovailoa has been in trade rumors this week and Charles gives two prime examples why the young passer should not be given up on so easily by the Miami franchise, its players and its fans.

Hear the full conversation on the Yahoo Sports NFL Podcast.

Video Transcript

TEREZ PAYLOR: I thought it was interesting that a story ca-- a column came out about Tua quoting some anonymous teammates this week.

CHARLES ROBINSON: And by the way, I want to say one thing about the Tua thing. If anonymous guys are popping off about what they thought about Tua in training camp, when this guy was coming off of a hip fracture just a few months before, seriously, at that point, I was just like, come on, man, really? You made your mind up a couple of months after the dude was coming off of a hip fracture, and you weren't impressed with him in training camp?

Like, this is just-- the Tua thing is going to be a conversation for another day, but it's wild to me how this guy has basically been buried. Almost from the moment he stepped into the organization, it feels like he's been buried.

TEREZ PAYLOR: I'm with you on it. But you know what this also does tell me, though, I think those guys really liked Fitzpatrick. Their energy with him matters. Like, I really do feel like they-- he had won some guys over.

CHARLES ROBINSON: You better get Fitzpatrick out of the building, period. Like, really, honestly, if a lot of this is because of how players feel about him, that's great, and that's wonderful. He's not the future.

Like, either players can say what they want-- he's great to follow him. I get it. He is an effervescent guy. He clearly brings spark to that team. He's battled everywhere he's been. No quarterback in front of him's ever been safe.

But he's never panned out where he's been. He's at an age now that he's not the future of your franchise. That's not happening. This is why players are not general managers. It's why players do not get affect on decisions, because they say things like, hey, we'd rather have Ryan Fitzpatrick than Tua.

Well, that makes no sense to the future of the franchise, period. So and a lot of those guys that are probably saying that, you and I both know, roster turnover, they're not going to be here in two years.

TEREZ PAYLOR: They're not going to be here.

CHARLES ROBINSON: They're going to be somewhere else.

TEREZ PAYLOR: Well, here's what I say. If you feel comfortable enough to say that to a columnist and that's going to go in a column, chances are you said that to teammates, and chances are that's already made it's way back to a position coach and thus, the coach. So I'm just saying like--

CHARLES ROBINSON: Does nobody get better anymore? No one improves? No, I'm sorry, but no rookie comes in? No you know, 21, 22-year-old, 20-year-old quarterback comes into the league and goes to his rookie season and gets better? Like, what are we talking about here?

When did this-- I swear to god. I don't remember who it is, but they kind of called it. We're now in the microwave era of quarterbacks. Look, if those [BLEEP] are not ready in 60 seconds, then apparently, they just ain't never going to be ready. It's over, which is the--

TEREZ PAYLOR: I know.

CHARLES ROBINSON: --dumbest think I've ev--

TEREZ PAYLOR: You know, especially when the best quarterback we've seen in a decade basically did the one-year sit plan. And let the record reflect I advocated for the one-year sit plan with Tua.

CHARLES ROBINSON: Hey.

TEREZ PAYLOR: But they saw some things. They wanted to work him in. Slow showing a touch. But I'm just saying, I still feel like there's a world where that's valuable.

CHARLES ROBINSON: OK. Well, go-- let's talk about two quarterbacks who are still in the goddamn playoffs right now, OK. Drew Brees, they went and drafted Philip Rivers because Drew Brees just wasn't going to be good enough. He wasn't good enough. They felt like he wasn't good enough for a couple of years. So they're going to get rid of him.

And then what happens? Drew Brees changes some of the things he does mechanically, changes his diet, some of the things he did physically. His arm gets stronger--

TEREZ PAYLOR: He figures it out.

CHARLES ROBINSON: --some of these things. Boom blo-- exactly. Figured it out. Blossoms.

Aaron Rodgers, OK. No one wants to believe this, but Aaron Rodgers, the first couple of years of his career in Green Bay, was an unmitigated disaster, OK. He was always hurt. It like, wasn't happening. There was like, this strife. There was this awkwardness.

And guess what? Rodgers physically, he got better. He changed some of the things he was doing, again, mechanically, from a diet standpoint, all these different things. And he figured it out, and then took the job. These are Hall of Fame, first ballot quarterbacks, OK. Like, it doesn't happen right away all the time.