While many Miami Dolphins fans would love to see rookie quarterback Tua Tagovailoa under center for the team’s first game, oddsmakers appear to have more confidence that veteran Ryan Fitzpatrick will be the one handling those duties.
Odds to be the week 1 starter for the Miami Dolphins:
Ryan Fitzpatrick -400
Tua Tagovailoa +350
Josh Rosen +2000— MoneyLine Talks (@MoneyLineTalks) May 11, 2020
Tagovailoa was the fifth overall selection in last month’s draft and had once been considered as the likely top choice prior to the start of the 2019 season.
However, a pair of injuries suffered by Tagovailoa, including a season-ending hip injury, ended those projections. The concerns over whether he might be injury-prone and whether he’d even be able to take the field in 2020 made a further drop in the draft a possible consideration.
The Dolphins appear to be taking a careful approach with a player who still has the talent to become a franchise player.
That means they want to make sure that Tagovailoa’s fully healthy again before he gets back on the field. It also means that they want him to fully learn the team’s offense and adapt to play in the NFL.
With Fitzpatrick, the Dolphins have a player who will be entering his 16th NFL season and has started 139 of the 156 games he’s played in.
Having joined the NFL out of Harvard University, Fitzpatrick clearly has the intelligence, but he also knows the struggles that come with the job.
Fitzpatrick’s depth of knowledge is something that Tagovailoa can tap into during the course of the season and then use going forward.
With respect to Josh Rosen, it’s clear that oddsmakers don’t hold out much hope that the former first-round selection will be able to make a dent. That could mean a possible trade at some point or might simply give the Dolphins added depth at this important position.
The Dolphins’ first regular-season game is scheduled for Sept. 13 on the road against the New England Patriots.
