The concerns surrounding Tua Tagovailoa as he begins his career with the Miami Dolphins has nothing to do with his performance, but rather his history of injuries. As a result, Nick Saban — Tagovailoa's head coach at Alabama — pointed out that Tagovailoa will need to learn to preserve his body.
“No. 1 thing we’ve tried to convince him of here is he’s got to learn self-preservation is part of the job,” Saban said, via the Miami Herald. “Tua’s a great competitor. You don’t want to take his competitive spirit away. He’s always trying to make a play, even when the play breaks down. And that’s good. He does it well. He’s made a ton of plays in those circumstances. But I still think there are times when there’s just nothing here. Several times when he got hurt here, I felt like there’s no reason for him to even get hit. The receiver fell down, whatever the circumstance was, there’s nothing there. Play the next play. Sometimes the other guys wins, but I think that’s probably No. 1. No. 2, he is so instinctive.”
Entering the 2019 season, Tagovailoa was the undisputed No. 1 pick in the 2020 NFL Draft. However, after suffering a season-ending hip injury later in the year, Tagovailoa saw his draft stock take a slight decline.
Nevertheless, the Dolphins took him with the No. 5 pick. There's no doubt that Tagovailoa is talented in his playmaking ability and his arm. On the other hand, the rookie signal-caller is going to realize that he can afford to live for another play.
Regardless of his status, it seems as if Miami is going to be patient with Tagovailoa before he starts. Once he does make his debut though, hopefully he listens to Saban's advice to help prolong his career.
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