Former NFL executive makes claim comparing Tua Tagovailoa's arm strength to Tom Brady
Scott Pioli, an NFL executive who most recently worked for the Atlanta Falcons in 2014, made a bold claim regarding Tua Tagovailoa's arm strength and his perceived shortcomings in that area.
Tua Tagaovailoa, the starting quarterback for the Miami Dolphins, has strengths and weaknesses, much like every other NFL player. One of his chief weaknesses that has been pointed out is arm strength, or a lack thereof.
Pioli also worked for the New England Patriots during the early years of Tom Brady's career. He had this to say about Tagovailoa's left arm:
“Tua’s arm strength will be just fine. First five years of Tom Brady’s career, critics said over and over that he can’t throw the deep ball. It’s all dink and dunk."
The Alamaba product was a rookie in 2020 and has only two years of professional play under his belt. Nonetheless, there are still rumblings throughout the league and the NFL fandom that Miami missed out on their quarterback.
"Tua Tagovailoa has Hill deep!" https://t.co/YVHIOnau6I
The main reason for the claims is that Tagovailoa's arm strength doesn't seem to be a strength at all. But at least former executive Pioli doesn't believe it'll be a problem as the former University of Alabama quarterback grows and gets stronger.
Pioli went on to say:
“Brady was deadly accurate. He was being told to make high percentage throws, because that’s what he could do best at that time. As he got older, he got stronger.”
How will Tua Tagovailoa and the Miami Dolphins fare in 2022-23?
As a rookie, Tagovailoa was swapped in and out of the offense for Ryan Fitzpatrick, the career journeyman who recently retired from the NFL. The Dolphins sometimes removed their starter from the lineup in late-game situations and placed the game on Fitzpatrick's shoulders.
This ultimately led them to a 10-6 record. As a result, they were barely left out of the playoffs. Considering they were playing a rookie quarterback and fell just shy of the postseason, the future looked quite bright.
However, they regressed last season to a record of 9-8 and also did not make the playoffs. This led them to fire head coach Brian Flores in a surprise move.
Their regression last season and the fact that they are with brand new head coach Mike McDaniel doesn't exactly bode well. However, if Pioli is right and Tagovailoa's arm strength improves, things could trend upward for the Dolphins.
“I love what they did from a coaching standpoint. I love the speed with (Jaylen) Waddle and Tyreek Hill and run after catch. Tua (Tagovailoa)’s very accurate underneath.”
- NFL.Com’s Daniel Jeremiah https://t.co/Deg4cJ3Ik8
The addition of Tyreek Hill will also help their offense perform better. Hill even said Tagovailoa is more accurate than Patrick Mahomes. If this happens to be the case, the Dolphins might finally make the postseason for the first time since 2016.
If you use any of the above quotes, please credit the New York Post and H/T Sportskeeda