Two of the best young NFL quarterbacks in Tua Tagovailoa of the Miami Dolphins and Kyler Murray of the Arizona Cardinals are getting ready to face each other on Sunday.
What did each of them think about the other when they first met?
Well, for Tua, he thought Murray was much bigger than he expected.
“I would say, first impressions when I met him, he’s pretty jacked up. For as short as he is, this guy’s rocked up,” Tua Tagovailoa said of Murray, per South Florida Sun-Sentinel. “He’s very competitive, very personable too. I got to meet his parents as well at the Heisman ceremony. Very good family.”
The respect and admiration is mutual, in spite of Murray not knowing Tua all that well.
“The times that I’ve been around him, I can’t say anything bad about Tua — great dude, down to earth, great player,” Kyler Murray said. “I don’t know him too well, but the times that we were around each other was nothing but good times.”
The two joined the NFL a year apart, with Murray in his second year with the Cardinals and Tua in his rookie season with the Dolphins. Both have a similar style, which should make for a good matchup on Sunday afternoon. This will be Tua's second start in the league after getting his first start last week in a surprise victory over the then 5-2 Los Angeles Rams.
While Murray didn't envision this matchup being so big this quickly, he knew Tua would be a foe to be reckoned with in the NFL.
“You get the feeling of who is next up going into the league,” Murray added, via Associated Press. “Obviously, Tua had a great college career. I didn’t envision this, but I knew he’d be in the league.”
Sunday's game could be the start of a rivalry between the two in the NFL. Only time will tell.