Tua Tagovailoa Rumors: Dolphins 'Want to Pay' QB After Trevor Lawrence's Contract

After another quarterback agreed to a lucrative long-term extension, Tua Tagovailoa has gained more leverage in his talks with the Miami Dolphins.

On the Saturday morning edition of SportsCenter, ESPN's Jeremy Fowler said the Dolphins "want to pay" Tagovailoa as the two sides continue to discuss a new deal:

"The Dolphins are committed to doing a long-term deal, they've made that clear both publicly and privately. Not a ton of progress yet but I believe that they're at least in the ballpark and this could perk up this summer. They've got six weeks before training camp. This is a player that led the league in passing, played in 17 games last year, showed he could be durable, so he's got some leverage. They want to pay him."

Trevor Lawrence agreed to a five-year, $275 million extension with the Jacksonville Jaguars on Thursday, per NFL Network's Ian Rapoport.

The deal for Lawrence was the second major quarterback contract extension of the offseason. Jared Goff signed a four-year, $212 million deal with the Detroit Lions in May.

Lawrence and Goff joined the list of quarterbacks earning at least $50 million per season. Joe Burrow ($55 million), Justin Herbert ($52.5 million), Lamar Jackson ($52 million) and Jalen Hurts ($51 million) are the others.

Tagovailoa will earn $23.1 million in 2024, the final season of his rookie contract. The Dolphins could choose to let him play out the deal, then either sign him to an extension next offseason or use the franchise tag to keep him if they have questions about his long-term viability.

One big concern that Tagovailoa addressed last season was durability. He put his offseason work of learning how to fall to good use by starting every game in a season for the first time in his career.

Tagovailoa also led the NFL in passing yards (4,624) and set career-highs in touchdown passes (29) and completion percentage (69.3).

If there is an area the Dolphins and Tagovailoa need to be better in 2024, it's finding a way to sustain their success over the course of 17 games. They are 16-6 between September and November over the past two seasons, but just 4-10 in December and January with two of those losses coming in the playoffs.

Even though Tagovailoa missed the end of the 2022 season due to a concussion, the Dolphins were 0-4 in December when he was on the field.

Despite some hiccups along the way, though, it's in Miami's best interest to keep Tagovailoa. He's done a terrific job in head coach Mike McDaniel's system over the past two seasons.

After Dan Marino retired following the 1999 season, the Dolphins went through 21 different starting quarterbacks before Tagovailoa was drafted in 2020. They have made the playoffs in each of the past two seasons after having just two postseason appearances from 2002 to 2021.