MIAMI (AP) – Tua Tagovailoa now has a role to match his jersey number. He’s the Miami Dolphins’ No. 1 quarterback.
The former Alabama star will make his first NFL start next week for the Miami Dolphins, who are turning to him to replace Ryan Fitzpatrick, a person familiar with the team’s decision said Tuesday.
The person confirmed the decision to The Associated Press on condition on anonymity because the Dolphins hadn’t made an announcement.
The change by coach Brian Flores will come after the Dolphins’ bye this week and has been long anticipated, but the timing is surprising because the team won its past two games to improve to 3-3. Tagovailoa will start at home against the Los Angeles Rams on Nov. 1.
Tagovailoa made his pro debut in mop-up duty at the end of Miami’s 24-0 victory Sunday over the New York Jets. He will become the 22nd quarterback to start for the Dolphins since Dan Marino retired following the 1999 season.
At Alabama, Tagovailoa wore Marino’s No. 13. That Dolphins jersey is retired, and so Tagovailoa now wears No. 1.
Touted as a potential franchise quarterback, the dynamic Tagovailoa raises the profile of a team that has been off the NFL radar for much of the past two decades. He was drafted in April with the fifth overall pick – the highest choice Miami has devoted to a QB since Bob Griese in 1967.
Tagovailoa is coming back from a serious hip injury that cut short his Alabama career last November. The recovery slowed his preparation to assume a starting NFL job, as did the coronavirus pandemic that forced the cancellation of offseason drills and exhibition games.
“He has been thrown into a very difficult situation in that he didn’t have any preseason, he didn’t have really an offseason,” Dolphins offensive coordinator Chan Gailey said Tuesday, shortly before the news of Tagovailoa’s promotion broke.
Fitzpatrick, 37, described himself during training camp as a placeholder. He is being benched even though he ranks fifth in the NFL in completion percentage, and the Dolphins are on pace for their highest-scoring season since 1986 at 26.7 points per game.
Tagovailoa went 2 for 2 for 9 yards against the Jets.
“Under duress he made an accurate throw,” Gailey said. “Then he sat in the pocket on third down and made a throw for a first down. For a guy that hadn’t played a snap, those are real positives.”
After the game, Tagovailoa spent several minutes sitting alone on the field and on his phone with his parents.
“It was exciting to get out there,” he said. “The most important thing that came out of my conversation with my parents was just that they were happy to see me out there and playing again.”
Fitzpatrick led cheers from the sideline when Tagovailoa took the field for the first time in 11 months.
At Alabama, Tagovailoa threw 76 touchdown passes in 24 starts over his final two seasons. He replaced Jalen Hurts in the national championship game in January 2018 and rallied the Crimson Tide past Georgia, and the following season he was the Heisman Trophy runner-up.
