Tua Tagovailoa Would Use One Word To Describe How He Feels About Contract Talks With the Dolphins

We know that Tua Tagovailoa was feeling some sort of way about his contract talks with the Miami Dolphins when he met with reporters earlier this week because he told them so. And, no, he wasn't celebrating.

Tagovailoa, whose agent has been negotiating a very large extension for months, engaged in an odd exercise with reporters in which they tried to guess how he feels about the talks.

So is Tua frustrated?

"Not frustrated," the quarterback said. "I’m another word."

Agitated? Annoyed? Bothered? 

"I just want to get something done, that’s it," Tua replied. "Just want to get something done."

MIAMI GARDENS, FLORIDA - JUNE 04: Tua Tagovailoa #1 of the Miami Dolphins throws a pass during Miami Dolphins Mandatory Minicamp on June 04, 2024 in Miami Gardens, Florida. (Photo by Megan Briggs/Getty Images)

Concerned?

"Not concerned," Tua said. "Concerned is not the right word. That’s way off from the word."

Why should he be concerned, anyway? The guy plays a game for a living and will eventually sign a $200-million-plus deal to do that. What can possibly be concerning about that?

Plus, Tua lives in Florida. So he's not even worried about a state tax.

Onward. So, antsy, maybe?

"Probably antsy," Tua said.

Probably but not definitely. Let's keep going.

Pissed off, someone offered.

"I wouldn’t say pissed off," Tua said. "I mean, this is the nature of the beast, right? This is how it goes."

And, yes, it is kind of ridiculous that no one asked Tagovailoa for the exact word. The guy tells everyone, "I'm another word," and no one thinks to ask, "What word, dude?"

So we're all out here left to guess. 

SANTA CLARA, CALIFORNIA - DECEMBER 04: Tua Tagovailoa #1 of the Miami Dolphins celebrates after throwing a touchdown pass during the first quarter against the San Francisco 49ers at Levi's Stadium on December 04, 2022 in Santa Clara, California. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)

A Word To Describe Tua's Feelings

Being that I am an expert on guessing words, I've got one word that is just as good a guess as any other that was wrong: 

Insulted.

This guess, by the way, is brought to you by my 34 seasons covering the NFL that have included approximately 234,951 contract negotiations.-- give or take.

In all those talks, players and teams have gone to their negotiating corners and come out slinging facts to try to get the best deal for their side.

And the best way players or their representation can state a case for getting top dollar is to explain how great the player is. 

That includes past performance and future potential. That includes a discussion about what kind of person the player is (when applicable, because some guys shouldn't go there). That includes showing the team how comparable players have gotten paid and how common NFL practice is to give the next guy up more money.

MIAMI GARDENS, FLORIDA - JUNE 04: Tua Tagovailoa #1 of the Miami Dolphins looks on during Miami Dolphins Mandatory Minicamp on June 04, 2024 in Miami Gardens, Florida. (Photo by Megan Briggs/Getty Images)

How The Tua Talks Might Go

Teams, meanwhile, must include the holes and flaws in the player's game as part of their case. Teams have to examine how their player might not be as good or hasn't accomplished as much as the player who just got paid.

In a very tangible way, a team negotiating with a player it values has to balance the discussion by agreeing their player is worthy. Just not that worthy.

And even when this happens in a businesslike manner and the player is made aware of the various points being made in the talks, some react to the dispassionate discourse with emotion.

They get, well, a bit insulted.

Proud men that conduct themselves a certain way and have delivered all they can to an organization, are sometimes caught unprepared for the negotiating exchanges that they believe diminish them.

How do these exchanges go? Well, as it relates to Tua, it's not hard to imagine. Example:

Dolphins: We love Tua. He's delivered big numbers the past two seasons and we think he still hasn't reached his ceiling.

Tua agent: Great, let's make him the highest paid QB in the NFL.

Dolphins: Well, wait a second. He hasn't won us a playoff game. Joe Burrow is the highest-paid quarterback and took his team to a Super Bowl and two AFC championship games.

Tua agent: Gotcha, so not Burrow. But let's get Tua paid higher than Jared Goff, who is second highest at $53 million per year on an annual average. He just signed his deal so, that's the market.

Dolphins: That's the market for a quarterback who has been to the Super Bowl and NFC Championship games, plural, and won playoff games, plural.

Tua agent: Don't agree with that, but let's compromise and say Tua should be the third-highest paid QB. He should be ahead of Justin Herbert, who's $52.5 million per year on an annual average is currently third. He hasn't been to a Super Bowl, has been injured, and was selected after you picked Tua in the same draft. So, $52.75 million per year on an annual average it is. Let's shake.

Dolphins: Yeah, look, we love Tua and took him over Herbert in the 2020 draft but – here comes the cringe part of this thing –  Herbert is better. He's thrown for 5,000 or so more yards. He averages almost 40 more passing yards per game. He's thrown 33 more TD passes. And, about the injuries, he's been available to his team nine more games than Tua has been available to us.

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS - NOVEMBER 06: Tua Tagovailoa #1 of the Miami Dolphins celebrates a touchdown during the first half in the game against the Chicago Bears at Soldier Field on November 06, 2022 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)

Separating Business And Emotion

This is obviously a fake discussion within a real negotiation, but the points are all valid.

And for someone as proud as Tua is about how far he's come since his early struggles under the Brian Flores experience and how much he's constantly told he is valued by coach Mike McDaniel, the negotiating counter-points can border on insulting.

Because sometimes it can become difficult to separate business and emotion. 

"Yeah, 100 percent, 100 percent," Tua said. "For people that talk about business is different than personal, sure, I can agree to some extent. But who you are as a person, for what you do business and personal, is who you are with how you do everything. That’s how I see it. 

"That’s just how I look at it. And if not, if you can be two different people at once, hey by all means you can do that. But to me, that’s just not how I am."

So, as long as we're all guessing what word Tua has been feeling at times, my vote is for insulted. And he wouldn't be the first one.