Tua Tagovailoa may be the top NFL MVP candidate now, but when the former Alabama star began his career, several onlookers were concerned about the quarterback’s health and long-term durability.
A season ago, we witnessed the then-third-year QB become a star under coach Mike McDaniel, frequently connecting on deep bombs downfield to speedsters Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle. While Tagovailoa often looked like one of the best QBs in football when healthy, his reign would be disrupted by multiple concussions.
Tagovailoa suffered his first NFL head injury during a 27-15 Week 4 loss to Cincinnati. This concussion would knock him out of action for the next two weeks. Then Tagovailoa took another rough hit, where his head smashed against the turf following his 21st sack of the season. The Dolphins then were without their starting QB for another two games, this time in the final stretch of the season as Miami was trying to compete for a playoff spot.
While the Dolphins did sneak in as a Wild Card team, fans couldn’t help but wonder how having Tagovailoa healthy could have helped in their 37-34 playoff-eliminating loss to Buffalo. Backup QB Skylar Thompson did what he was asked, but he could not replicate the splashy plays the Dolphins have become known for.
Tagovailoa spent the offseason refining his technique, which included an increased emphasis on learning how to fall. This method of training even led the 6-foot-1, 217-pound Hawaii native to take jiu-jitsu lessons, aimed to help him not only avoid big hits to his head but also to develop a learned behavior that helped him collapse with care.
So far through three weeks, Tagovailoa’s work appears to have paid off in a big way. While he’s surely been benefiting from improved offensive line play in Miami, the 25-year-old QB has also gotten rid of the ball with much more urgency.
Instead of being sacked on one of every 5.4 percent of his dropbacks, Tagovailoa is taking sacks at a historically low rate. Now he’s improved to being sacked on just one percent of his dropbacks, which, considering the high volume of Miami’s passing attack, makes this feat all the more impressive. As Pro Football Talk pointed out, the season to compare to is another former Miami legend, when Dan Marino was sacked just six times despite having 606 pass attempts in 1988. To no surprise, Marino led the NFL with the lowest sack rate that season, going down on just one percent of his dropbacks.
Tagovailoa has attempted 101 passes this season. That ranks 15th among QBs who have started three games. But Tagovailoa’s sack rate is better than all of them, except for Patrick Mahomes, who has been sacked on just .9 percent of his dropbacks.
Yet, according to Next Gen Stats, no QB has gotten rid of the ball quicker than Tagovailoa has this season. He’s averaging just 2.34 seconds to release the ball, giving opposing pass-rushes a very limited amount of time to get home.
Can Tagovailoa stay out of harm’s way? His health may be the single most important factor to the Dolphins’ success this season, but so far, he’s passed each test with flying colors.
Related: NFL QB Rankings 2023: Where does Tua Tagovailoa land?