As Browns wait for Watson era to start, Dolphins being rewarded for faith in Tua Tagovailoa

When the Miami Dolphins (6-3) host the Cleveland Browns (3-5) at Hard Rock Stadium on Sunday, Miami will have its starting quarterback, Tua Tagovailoa, under center.

Cleveland, though, won’t, as Deshaun Watson sits out the final three games of his 11-game suspension. Jacoby Brissett, who started five games for the Dolphins last season, will continue to fill in for Watson.

Of course, the roles could have been reversed, with the Dolphins taking on the public criticism for the Watson trade and waiting for him to return from suspension, punishment after he was accused by more than two dozen women of sexual misconduct during massage sessions.

Now, after forgoing a trade for the controversial quarterback and sticking with Tagovailoa, the Dolphins are being rewarded for their faith with a breakout season from the third-year player.

It wasn’t long ago that Watson in a Dolphins jersey not only seemed plausible but a strong likelihood. The three-time Pro Bowler requested a trade from the Houston Texans in January 2021, and Miami soon was named as a possible landing spot.

There was mutual interest from the Dolphins, but two months after the trade request, accusations of sexual misconduct emerged, followed by more than two dozen civil suits and criminal complaints. As Watson, 27, sat out the entirety of the 2021 season and the NFL investigated him for a violation of the personal conduct policy, the complexity of the legal situation became too much to maneuver.

Tagovailoa — the No. 5 overall pick in the 2020 Draft — and the Dolphins endured a tumultuous season with weekly speculation, but the NFL’s deadline passed without Miami executing a trade for Watson. The day after the deadline passed, general manager Chris Grier defended the decision to pursue Watson.

“If there is a player considered one of the top players in the NFL, you have to look at it and try to go for it,” he said. “It has nothing to do with not believing in Tua. We’re very happy with Tua.”

As the 2021 season ended and the offseason neared, the Dolphins quickly made it known where they stood on Watson. After firing Brian Flores as head coach, Grier told local reporters at the NFL Scouting Combine in March that the “door is shut” on a potential trade, and the team was moving forward with Tagovailoa as their 2022 starter, paired with first-year head coach Mike McDaniel.

In March, a week after Watson was cleared by a grand jury of criminal charges stemming from the accusations of sexual misconduct, the Texans traded him to the Browns, who gave up five draft picks, including three first-rounders. Cleveland later gave Watson a fully guaranteed $230 million contract, setting a record for the highest guarantee given to an NFL player.

While Watson is set to make his return in Week 13 against the Texans and the Browns hope he returns to Pro Bowl form, the Dolphins have a quarterback in Tagovailoa in the midst of a breakthrough. He leads the NFL in passer rating and has blossomed under the tutelage of McDaniel. The Dolphins are 6-0 this season in games Tagovailoa has started and finished.

“Tua’s in the MVP conversation even [with missing three games] ... The reason why Miami is a bona fide Super Bowl contender is because of the way their quarterback is playing,” NFL analyst Dan Orlovsky said on ESPN this week.

The Dolphins avoided the backlash that would have come with bringing on Watson as the face of their franchise and continued to build around Tagovailoa. The draft capital and cap space that would have been tied into acquiring Watson instead went to adding players such as wide receiver Tyreek Hill and offensive tackle Terron Armstead, who have played key roles in the emergence of the Dolphins offense.

“I would say I felt supported from the time Mike came in,” Tagovalioa said last week. “Getting guys like Tyreek — obviously we had Jaylen [Waddle], we had Mike Gesicki — bringing in guys like Raheem Mostert, guys that kind of understood the offense that have been with him, with Trent [Sherfield] and River [Cracraft].

And the delayed gratification of Tagovailoa’s growth has been worth it for the Dolphins.

“Everybody isn’t blessed to come into certain situations,” Hill said. “Unfortunately, Tua, he came into a difficult situation. Obviously, two years down the road, he got ‘J-Dub,’ which is Jaylen Waddle, to help him out a little bit. But some guys don’t come into great situations, so I feel like once he got a coach who truly believed in who he is as a person, who he is as a player, this organization got around him, look at the talent now he’s got around him. A lot of people can begin to grab their chairs — we’ve got enough room at the table, man.”