Tua Tagovailoa not focused on contract extension with Dolphins: ‘This is something that I need to work for’

Two of the top five quarterbacks selected in the 2020 NFL Draft have two of the biggest contracts in NFL history. One of them is not Tua Tagovailoa. 

The Miami Dolphins quarterback is OK with not receiving his mega extension, even if Justin Herbert and Jalen Hurts got their deserved contracts. 

“Yeah. I mean, it’s big,” Tagovailoa said to reporters earlier this week. “Big. First off, congrats to him and congrats to Jalen (Hurts) as well earlier on his contract. I think it’s really good for the quarterback market. That’s what I would say. It’s really good for the quarterback market. 

“It gets me excited, gets me going. But at the same time, they got what they deserve and I’m happy for them.”

Tagovailoa is on the last year of his rookie deal with a fifth-year option by the Dolphins picked up for 2024. Both parties have plenty of time to get a long-term extension done, which is why that’s not on Tagovailoa’s mind as he heads into Year 4. 

“I think regardless of what it is, if they wanted to do it now, if they wanted to wait, whatever; I think for myself I’m always a person that wants to prove to myself that I deserve whatever I get,” Tagovailoa said. “So for me, I feel like this is something that I need to work for. It’s as plain and simple as that.”

Tagovailoa is coming off a season in which he was the first Dolphins quarterback to lead the NFL in passer rating since Dan Marino in 1984. The Dolphins averaged 6.5 yards per play with Tagovailoa as the starter last season, the most by any starting quarterback in the league. Miami was 8-5 and averaged 25.5 points per game with Tagovailoa as the starter, yet was just 1-3 and averaged 16.3 points in the games Tagovailoa missed. 

The Dolphins win with Tagovailoa and are determined to prove 2022 was no fluke. 

“I haven’t talked about any contract since what I’ve understood with my fifth-year extension,” Tagovailoa said. “I don’t think that’s a worry of mine. When things come, they’ll come because you either deserved it or it’s supposed to happen that way.”