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Longtime coordinator says passing on Justin Herbert is going to ‘haunt’ the Miami Dolphins for a long time

Justin Herbert Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

The Miami Dolphins boast talent all up and down the roster as the 2022 NFL regular season approaches, but there is still a question mark at the quarterback position.

Tua Tagovailoa entered the NFL as a highly touted quarterback out of the University of Alabama, but concerns about his arm strength and health persisted. Nevertheless, the Dolphins selected him in the 2020 NFL Draft.

Perhaps most notably, the Dolphins selected Tagovailoa over quarterback Justin Herbert. Herbert ultimately went to the Los Angeles Chargers and almost immediately became a star.

According to one longtime NFL coordinator, the Dolphins are going to regret selecting Tagovailoa over Herbert for many years to come.

“When you’re that talented physically and you’re smart, it’s mind-boggling,” a longtime NFL coordinator told ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler, singing Herbert’s praises. “Adding his strength and power, he’s hard to tackle, all of that; and he’s seeing things for another season so will have a better understanding.”

He then offered the foreboding prediction regarding the Dolphins.

“Passing on him is going to haunt [the Dolphins] for a long time,” said the coordinator about the 2020 draft, when Miami took Tua Tagovailoa at No. 5 over Herbert (No. 6).

It’s a topic that Dolphins fans have likely talked about ad nauseam over the last couple of years. Every Herbert highlight seems to serve as a reminder that he could be doing things in South Florida.

That is not to say that Tagovailoa has been all together bad during his time with the Dolphins. He’s shown flashes of impressive play, but he certainly has not put it all together just yet. And even if he proves capable of doing so, he doesn’t seem to be capable of doing some of the things that Herbert seems to do with ease.

If Tagovailoa struggles again in the 2022 season, the Dolphins may have to consider finding a replacement at quarterback.

The Chargers probably won’t have to worry about that position for the next decade or so.