Despite relocating to another team in the offseason, Washington Football Team quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick is still looking out for his former Miami Dolphins teammate in Tua Tagovailoa. The 38-year-old journeyman bared that his former understudy has been through quite a lot during his rookie campaign with the Dolphins last season.

“It’s amazing how much criticism and different things have been thrown his way,” Fitzpatrick said during an appearance on “The Ross Tucker Football Podcast” this week. “It’s very difficult to play quarterback in the NFL, and I think we keep forgetting as fans that fact. It’s very difficult. The guy was a rookie last year and came in and went 6-3 — whatever he did. …

Fitzpatrick also revealed that his kids would often play with the 23-year-old Hawaiian quarterback on Madden as much as they would with him.

“I’m a huge Tua fan. My kids love Tua. Sometimes they play with him on ‘Madden.’ Sometimes they play with me.

Despite having a short-lived stint together as teammates, Fitzpatrick truly believes that Tagovailoa is capable of making his own mark in the league sooner than later.

“But I’m looking forward to big things for him. I think he’s going to do great. Just in terms of being a leader on a team and a guy people can follow, he has all those qualities, so I think we just need to have a little bit of patience. He was a rookie last year, and I think he’s going to do great things.”

The veteran playmaker initially started for the team's first few games of the 2020 season as head coach Brian Flores wanted to buy more time for Tagovailoa's development as a quarterback in the league. After gaining significant reps, the rookie was eventually named to the starting lineup in Week 8 against the Los Angeles Rams where he led his team to a 28-17 victory.

Despite the good start to his professional career, Tagovailoa still needed more time to adapt to the higher level of competition as he found himself being occasionally benched during games. The rocky quarterback situation might have affected the Dolphins as they eventually concluded the season with a 10-6 record for the second spot in the AFC East.

Although they missed the playoffs last season, everyone knows that the Dolphins will be a force to reckon with going forward.  Similar to the improvement of the entire team, Ryan Fitzpatrick continues to believe that Tua Tagovailoa can eventually prove his haters wrong and show his worth on the field in the seasons to come.