The Miami Dophins have quite the duo in QB Tua Tagovailoa and WR Jaylen Waddle. Yes, really they have a great trio with Tyreek Hill added in, but for the purposes of today, we're talking about the former.
Tagovailoa and Waddle starred together at the University of Alabama. They both won a national championship - albeit not together; Tua won his in 2017 and Waddle in 2020 once Tua was a rookie with the Dolphins.
However, the two starred together in the years between in 2018 and 2019, and it was clear they had a strong connection. Apparently, Waddle saw that potential even before he was a member of the Crimson Tide.
Waddle was a guest on the OG podcast this week with Udonis Haslem and Mike Miller, and he admitted that when he saw Tua throw the ball at Alabama, he was sold as a recruit.
"Yeah, you've got to," Waddle responded when asked if he was eyeing the QB situation. "That's going to be the guy that's feeding you the ball. So you've got to. I had a good relationship with Jalen Hurts. He's from Houston to. They always talked about Tua when Jalen Hurts was done, graduated. Tua was the next person in line. I went down there, seen Tua throw. I said, they got me. Hey, you got me. I'm sold."
As such, it was fortuitous and fitting that the team that took Waddle in the first round of the 2021 NFL Draft was Tua's own Dolphins.
And it's certainly worked out so far for both men together. Waddle has managed to eclipse the 1000-yard receiving mark in each of his first three seasons. His career best year was in 2022, where he grabbed 75 passes for 1356 yards and 8 touchdowns, with Tua starting in 13 of those contests. Considering he's been operating as the de facto #2 wideout behind Tyreek Hill, that's very impressive.
It's also obviously worked out well for Tua, who's ascended into one of the better quarterbacks in the league in Mike McDaniel's offense over the last two seasons. Tua led the league in passing yards last season and secured his first Pro Bowl nod.
Looks like Waddle's instincts his senior year of high school were pretty spot on.
