Miami Dolphins player: “I’m wasting my career as a Miami Dolphins”

Players, actual NFL players have been around football for years. They grew up playing this game and have seen greatness and on the opposite side they have seen some train wrecks.  Players can sense what type of teammate they are and have in a locker room.  And to think about it, many of these players actually turn into scouts or coaching assistance around the NFL.  Even a few become Head Coaches for university, college or high school teams.  That is how much football means to them, since they have been around this sport their entire life.

Regardless of the caliber of player they might be in the NFL, to be able to make it to this league speaks for itself.  You are an athlete.  You have poured blood, sweat and tears to get yourself here, and you deserve all the benefits of playing on any given Sunday.   These players deserve to win, but not everyone can.  It was reported last week that a defensive Miami Dolphins players stated:

"““He’s only going to take us so far,” the player said. “I’m wasting my career here if that’s what we’re doing.”source"

This is a crazy quote and I would really like to understand who said this. The reason why, depends on the caliber, if it was Xavien Howard (the best pure player on the Dolphins) versus Justin Coleman (a journeymen backup player in the NFL).   Defensive players go against the offense every day in training camp, practices and walkthroughs.  The Dolphins defense was outstanding this year.  This defense is playoff caliber.  When it goes against an offense that hasn’t scored more than 30 points in two years, you can understand why a quote like this might impact everyone in the locker room.

Look no further than what Josh Allen did this past weekend.  Also remember that the Miami Dolphins have to play Josh Allen twice a year.  Allen’s current record against the Dolphins in the past three years is 6 and 0.  Do you honestly believe that a revamped offensive line will help Tua beat Allen? Just for everyone reference, the scores in the last four games:

• 2020
  • 56-26
  • 31-28
• 2021
  • 26-11
  • 35-0

Pay no attention to the 31-28 game, as Tua wasn’t the starting quarterback.  The 26 points,  the highest  scored by Tua was against the Bill 3rd team, as the starters didn’t even play until Halftime.   In games against the best quarterback in the Dolphins division, Tua hasn’t shown to his defensive teammates or his fans that he can lead them to victory.  Adding a running back or center or even another complimentary wide receiver, doesn’t add 30 points to the scoreboard.

Listen, I really admire Tua. I think he’s a great person and I was hoping for the best to play out.  The fact of the matter is, players that are going against him every day are telling you that he can’t beat us, let alone the other top teams in the NFL.  Brian Flores most likely saw this and went to the front office and said, hey I need Deshaun Watson, as I can stop Tua every day in practice.

Coach Flores seeing this on a daily basis, might have been the reason why he is no longer the coach of the Miami Dolphins.  But it has become evident that to win the AFC, you need to go through either Josh Allen or Patrick Mahomes.  You don’t see the Los Angeles Chargers players calling out Justin Herbert? You don’t see Cincy players calling out Joe Burrow, who was sacked nine times against the Titans?  These are two other QBs that the Dolphins have to get over to make it to a Super Bowl.  That is the end goal, and after two seasons with Tua, the Miami Dolphins must reflect and determine if Tua can lead them there, if not, Deshaun Watson, Aaron Rodgers, Russell Wilson are available and bring that prestige that Tua doesn’t have.

At the end of the day, everyone has seen the tape on Tua.  It’s evident that there are problems in his game, but at the same time there is potential, but it has to be a perfect scenario and fit for everything to come together. Tua can’t lead the Dolphins to the playoffs by himself, that much everyone knows.   All other quarterbacks that are or could be potentially available, can do that.  That’s the difference between wasting a career and having one.