Tua Tagovailoa cleared to practice, setting up Dolphins QB competition with Ryan Fitzpatrick
Dolphins No. 5 overall pick Tua Tagovailoa has been cleared to practice without limitations.
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The Miami Dolphins will not start practicing for a couple of weeks at training camp because of the new coronavirus rules, but when they do begin at the team facility, quarterback and rookie No. 5 overall pick Tua Tagovailoa will be on the field as Coach Brian Flores said Wednesday that Tagovailoa has passed his physical and will practice without limitations. Tua is +800 on the William Hill moneyline odds to win NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year.
Tagovailoa almost surely would not have dropped to No. 5 in this year's draft and might have gone No. 1 overall even over LSU quarterback Joe Burrow if Tua stayed healthy at Alabama. His junior season ended early because of a major hip injury that required surgery and likely scared some NFL teams away because their doctors couldn't give Tagovailoa a physical during a coronavirus pandemic.
This winter as Tua was rehabbing, there was speculation he would simply sit his entire 2020 rookie season and open it on the physically unable to perform list. Some scouts have compared Tua to a left-handed Drew Brees because the Hawaiian is so accurate.
Now the quarterback competition begins in Miami between Tua and 37-year-old journeyman Ryan Fitzpatrick and, in theory anyway, former first-round bust Josh Rosen. Fitz was 5-8 as a starter last season, and that's actually a pretty impressive record considering how stripped down the Dolphins' roster was as they were trying to tank.
The fact there were no offseason activities and that Fitzpatrick is so experienced and worked with most of the offensive players last year would seem to give him a huge leg up to be the Week 1 starter. Fitzpatrick will not necessarily have a better grasp of the offense, though, because Flores fired OC Chad O'Shea after last season and replaced him with Chan Gailey. Then again, Fitzpatrick knows Gailey very well as Gailey was head coach of the Bills from 2010-12 and Fitzpatrick was the team's starting QB then.
Asked Wednesday if Fitzpatrick would be Miami's first-team QB to open the year, Flores said "there is competition there and everywhere." The Fins are +6.5 on the NFL odds for Week 1 at New England, which runs one of the most complex defensive schemes in the NFL – another edge to Fitzpatrick.
Via SportsLine NFL oddsmakers: Who starts at QB for Dolphins in Week 1?
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