The Facts: Should the Dolphins slow-play it with Tagovailoa during his rookie season or should he play as soon as he begins to perform as well as - or better than - Ryan Fitzpatrick in practice? That's as important as any on-field question the Dolphins will face this season. One person who spoke to the Dolphins' front office came away with the impression that while it's likely Fitzpatrick will begin the season as the starter, Miami isn't opposed to playing Tagovailoa as a rookie if he earns the opportunity at some point this season.
Diehards Line:According to Herald staffer, the expectation of Fitzpatrick starting the opener and beyond is based on the fact he has not only infinitely more experience than Tagovailoa, but five years of experience in offensive coordinator Chan Gailey's system, and also the fact that Tagovailoa cannot do on-field work with Dolphins coaches because of the lack of an offseason program. But if Tagovailoa impresses coaches, they're not at all opposed to playing him this season. We'll see how that plays out, but it's worth noting one of the incredible stats about Tagovailoa, as former Dolphins executive Mike Tannenbaum pointed out on Twitter, is he had more games where he threw four or more touchdowns (12) than he had total interceptions (11) throughout entire his career.