ESPN writer swings and misses on a critique of Tua Tagovailoa while giving a mediocre ranking to the Miami Dolphins’ coaching staff
The Miami Dolphins are set to begin what they hope is a major turnaround in 2025 after a disappointing 8-9 season a year ago. The Dolphins are a bit of an unknown commodity entering the year, with major questions on the back end of their defense, but with what appears to be an upgraded offensive […]
The Miami Dolphins are set to begin what they hope is a major turnaround in 2025 after a disappointing 8-9 season a year ago. The Dolphins are a bit of an unknown commodity entering the year, with major questions on the back end of their defense, but with what appears to be an upgraded offensive line.
However, much of Miami’s success comes down to how well Tua Tagovailoa performs, and, like usual, how much Mike McDaniel and his staff can get out of the roster talent this season.
One ESPN writer is down on the prospects of those things, it appears. ESPN NFL analyst Ben Solak put out a ranking of all 32 coaching staffs, and Miami came in 19th. In Solak’s breakdown, he had a head-scratching evaluation of Tagovailoa:
“Another year, another struggle to appropriately rank McDaniel. On the one hand, McDaniel’s offense in Miami continues to push the boundary on what NFL offenses can achieve via design. Despite a poor offensive line, a quarterback who struggles on extended plays and with downfield accuracy, and a receiver room that lacks size, McDaniel continues to author offense by using speed in creative ways.
Critically, McDaniel isn’t just sticking to the script. He’s innovating as defenses catch up. For the second year in a row, Tagovailoa had the fastest time to throw — three years ago, he was fourth quickest. But how far the ball is going has changed. In 2022, McDaniel’s first season at the helm, a league-high 44.5% of Tua’s throws were at least 10 yards downfield. Last year, it was 26.6% — nearly halved. The stretch has gone from vertical to horizontal, and the passing game still hums.
Critically, it’s only with Tagovailoa. McDaniel has built a spectacular offense for maximizing Tagovailoa’s strengths — the quick decisions, the lightning-fast release. But his backup quarterbacks can’t maintain the offense when Tagovailoa gets hurt. Good offensive coaches can build a system, but great offensive coaches can bend it around personnel issues. That’s still missing in Miami.
The fact that McDaniel never got the locker room and ex-defensive coordinator Vic Fangio aligned also looks worse for McDaniel the further we get from the falling out — Fangio did some good work in Philadelphia last season, in case you missed it. The good news is Weaver was a quality defensive coordinator last season, which keeps the Dolphins ranked fairly highly here.“
Look, you can call Tua many things, but saying he struggles with downfield accuracy is just plain wrong. Tagovailoa’s lauded strength has been the deep ball and his ability to throw with surgeon-like precision and timing into tight windows down the field.
Miami’s offensive line woes and odd rumblings coming from the locker room – i.e., current and former players talking about the Dolphins being soft, the weird internal spat with Fangio, etc. – are concerning surround the leadership of the franchise in recent years. That’s hard to argue with.
However, one thing could solve the other in 2025, as an improved offensive line could help unlock Miami’s offense again in 2025, which could open up defensive looks that Tua has feasted on in the past, looks that McDaniel has said this offseason that they have to earn again. And winning cures many ills inside locker rooms in any sport.
