On the surface and on paper, Tua Tagovailoa's rookie season looks fairly impressive to this point. In his eight starts, the Dolphins have won six games and lost just two. He leads the NFL with a 0.9 percent interception percentage. He's thrown 10 touchdowns to just two picks, and has added three more touchdown scampers on the ground.
But to former NFL general manager Michael Lombardi, these numbers don't actually reflect what has been a less-than-stellar campaign for the rookie that reached a low point in Week 16. Tagovailoa was benched in favor of Ryan Fitzpatrick after recording a paltry 94 passing yards on 22 attempts against the beatable Raiders defense. Fitzpatrick then went on to lead nothing short of a miracle victory.
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"...Every quarterback looks good against the Raiders defense," Lombardi said on the latest episode of "The GM Shuffle," available on RADIO.COM. "To me that was the biggest indictment. Tua couldn't even look good against the Raiders defense. He averaged 4.27 yards per attempt. His best game of his career was when he played against Arizona, he averaged 8.86. I mean he's at 6.26 (on the season). He doesn't make any plays down the field, and the last three weeks, he has been sacked nine times because he doesn't have elite quickness, or elite power to get out of the way."
His 6.26 yards per attempt figure sits near the bottom of the barrel in terms of the league's quarterbacks this season. Here's the full list, with Tagovailoa coming in at No. 33 of the 38 eligible quarterbacks who have made at least five starts this season:
Still, Lombardi feels that because he was deemed by the media as a star quarterback of the future, football fans and analysts remain really high on Tagovailoa despite not having much to show for. On the other hand, a fellow rookie like Jalen Hurts — who was selected in the second round of the same draft as Tagovailoa — has displayed a skill set that, in Lombardi's opinion, is one of a much higher level than Tagovailoa.
"There's no comparison between Hurts and Tua," Lombardi said. "...watching him play for Philly, he's playing at a higher level as a rookie. Herbert is playing at a much higher level than Tua. Burrow was playing at a much higher level than Tua. All rookies. Gardner Minshew played at a higher level as a rookie."
At some point, Lombardi feels as though we have to look at the on-field production and move away from the optimistic view that Tagovailoa is still young and will improve, because the same can be said about all of the other rookies mentioned above. The difference, he says, is that Tagovailoa hasn't flashed any of the same elite skills that others have promised.
"...Tell me what he does elitely with the football. He doesn't have an elite arm. He doesn't have elite quickness. He doesn't have elite size," Lombardi said. "...They said it on the broadcast, he has 'it.' Like, what the f--- is 'it?' I want to know what 'it' is... like, What is 'it?!' I wanna know what the f--- 'it' is."
If Lombardi were in charge, it seems likely that Fitzpatrick would take the reins in a crucial Week 17 matchup with the Bills. But head coach Brian Flores is sticking with his rookie, and he's made it clear why.
"Tua has brought us a spark in a lot of other games. I think people will just forget that because we just remember the last thing," Flores said (via Cameron Wolfe of ESPN). "Speculation on whatever people want to speculate about as far as what we should or shouldn't do based on last night, I wouldn't do that and forget the body of work over the course of the season to include the last however many games Tua has been starting [eight]. I think he's played fairly well."
Perhaps his head coach's stick-to-itiveness will allow that "it" factor, the same factor that has completely eluded Lombardi to this point, will show at just the right time, with the playoffs on the horizon.
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