Tagovailoa led the league in passing and played every game last season for Miami.
The Miami Dolphins have a very important decision to make in the coming months as they are expected to give a contract extension to star quarterback Tua Tagovailoa. However, the amount per year is the discussion people are having, plus according to a report from Marcel Louis-Jacques of ESPN, there could be more complexities like various types of bonuses.
One of the key parts that Louis-Jacques makes when it comes to Tagovailoa's likely contract extension is when a contract advisor said there could be “per game roster bonuses.” This is likely due to the 26-year old's injury history as before this past season, he has missed a significant amount of games even going back to the University of Alabama where he had stints of absences.
“Signing bonus, base salary, workout bonus, per game roster bonuses — that's something [the Dolphins are] going to want to put in the contract,” the contract adviser said to Louis-Jacques. “Per-game roster bonus is high because of his health — but the agent side will balk at it.”
Dolphins GM hopeful they will come to an agreement with Tagovailoa
While it would be understandable to put that type of bonus in there, Tagovailoa took a massive step not just in his level of play and performance, but also in health as he played every single game last season which ended up being 18 contests including the playoffs. In terms of his season, he had career-highs where he led the league in passing with 4,624 yards, threw 29 touchdowns, and completed 69.3 percent of his passes as Dolphins general manager Chris Grier has said they're “hopeful” an agreement will be made.
“I think we're hopeful,” Grier said via ESPN. “When you go through these things … these are deals that very rarely come together quickly. There are a lot of pieces and moving parts. We've had positive discussions so far, and we'll keep working here throughout the offseason.”
“We've been in communication since the offseason began. Our goal is to get something done,” Grier continued. “[Tagovailoa's agent] Ryan Williams has been great. Tua has been great. We'll see. There is no timeline on it. At the end of the day, you had [to] know how these deals get done.”They are complicated deals, and we're building a team through free agency as well. We'll work through it and see if we can get something done.”
There are other quarterbacks besides Tagovailoa awaiting an extension
Besides Tagovailoa, there have been a number of quarterbacks getting a second contract, a lot in the same draft class of the Crimson Tide product where others like Joe Burrow, Justin Herbert, and Jalen Hurts received huge extensions. Lots of deals have set the market, including this offseason when the Detroit Lions gave Jared Goff a four-year extension worth $212 million.
With other signal-callers in line to receive extensions this summer like Trevor Lawrence, Dak Prescott, and Jordan Love, the price could go up which means Miami has to act fast. Even a front office executive said to ESPN that “you don't want to lose” Tagovailoa and predicts it to be a deal where he gets $55 million per year.
“I think Miami's come this far. They've groomed him, he's going to get better,” the front office executive said to ESPN. “You don't want to lose him. It was so hard to get a quarterback. … It's just finding that balance. My guess is $55 million [per year], maybe it's more.”
Whatever happens, it is entirely expected that the Dolphins and Tagovailoa come to an agreement about a contract extension as both parties want to be together for the foreseeable future, especially after a relatively impressive season. While it's the first time Miami has made back-to-back playoffs since 2000 and 2001, they are still looking for their first win in the postseason since Dec. of 2000 which is the longest active drought in football.
