The quarterback the Miami Dolphins selected with the fifth pick in the 2020 NFL draft came back from a potentially career-ending hip injury that cut his final season at the University of Alabama short, and produced a 6-3 record after replacing Ryan Fitzpatrick as the team’s starter.
While Tagovailoa was benched twice for the veteran now serving as the starter for Washington Football Team, which qualified for the playoffs last year, the rookie showed flashes of accuracy, pocket presence, leadership, and resilience that this franchise has been missing since Dan Marino retired after the 1999 season.
The problem is he didn’t exhibit those traits consistently enough, struggled to diagnose the field quickly, and wasn’t one of the NFL’s top playmakers in 2020.