Jeff Darlington reveals the Miami Dolphins are reluctant to pay QB Tua Tagovailoa market value similar to Jared Goff and Trevor Lawrence

Tagovailoa is entering the final year of his rookie contract.

Jeff Darlington reveals the Miami Dolphins are reluctant to pay QB Tua Tagovailoa market value similar to Jared Goff and Trevor Lawrence

Tua Tagovailoa (M), Trevor Lawrence (R), and Jared Goff (L) (via IMAGO)

The contracts in the quarterback market are getting a bit out of hand at this point. The most recent deal of Trevor Lawrence signing a massive $275 million contract with the Jacksonville Jaguars has resulted in him becoming the highest paid QB alongside Joe Burrow.

His contract has now raised the bar of the QB market and resulted in the contract talks between Tua Tagovailoa and the Miami Dolphins getting a little tricky. The most recent QB contract that Tagovailoa is likely to base his market value off of is those of Jared Goff and Trevor Lawrence. Jeff Darlington of ESPN recently gave an update on the negotiations between the two parties.

The analyst reveals that Miami remains reluctant to offer Tua a contract that will go as high as $50 million or more per year. He mentioned that the Dolphins might argue they are not obligated to match the high contracts like Jared Goff’s with the Detroit Lions,

Right now, there's five words that are looming over this contract negotiation and they're the words that came out of Tua's mouth, 'The market is the market'...The complicated part of this is the Dolphins could point at that Jared Goff deal and say we're not the Detroit Lions, but when Trevor Lawrence gets his contract, you have a situation right now.
Jeff Darlington said

The status quo as of now is that while Miami wants Tua back, they are not willing to offer him the ‘market value’.

The Miami Dolphins do not believe Tua Tagovailoa is a $50 million per year QB

The Dolphins are not willing to play by the rules of the market. The team intends to proceed as per a value they feels is right based on the talent shown by Tua Tagovailoa. Here is where it gets tricky: the quarterback has previously made it clear that he intends to base his value on what the market dictates. However, the team feels otherwise. There is a clear conflict in-here.

Tua Tagovailoa
Tua Tagovailoa (via IMAGO)

One thing is clear, it is that the negotiation process between the Dolphins and Tagovailoa is bound to go on for a while. Although it has not yet reached a point where fans must be concerned about the future of the quarterback, Darlington, however, is not as optimistic as he was earlier about the two sides reaching an extension at the earliest.

I think my optimism earlier has to be slightly scaled back at this point given all of those factors currently in play.
Jeff Darlington said

Tagovailoa heads into the final year of his rookie contract this season. While there is nothing to panic about yet, if Tua Tagovailoa remains reluctant to accept a deal under $50 million and if the Dolphins remain adamant that they will not exceed $48 million, then things will indeed get tricky.

However, considering that there is time available, it is not a matter of concern and both sides should get a deal done sooner or later.

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