Skepticism about Dolphins’ Tagovailoa commitment growing tiresome. And it’s unwarranted

Healthy skepticism is fine; in fact, it’s encouraged in our profession.

But with the Dolphins and their comments about Tua Tagovailoa, I’m not sure how we’ve arrived at this unhealthy place of distrust and suspicion and cynicism, where a handful of reporters decide that general manager Chris Grier’s words are not to be believed about his quarterback.

Many team executives stretch the truth or fib, often by claiming decisions haven’t been made when they actually have been made.

If the Dolphins start pursuing available quarterbacks, that would suggest that Grier was being dishonest when he said in no uncertain terms that the team is committed to Tagovailoa as their starter in 2023.

Our educated belief is that Grier was telling the truth and doesn’t plan to pursue any other starting quarterback; ESPN’s Jeff Darlington reported that on Tuesday.

And yet, a few cynics keep questioning Grier’s words, and the predictable pattern of doubt has become tiresome.

At the head of the pack is CBS HQ and former ESPN reporter Josina Anderson.

Anderson said last week: “I’m told multiple people have been made aware within the Dolphins organization that the team will explore all options at quarterback.”

To this point, that report has not been corroborated by anyone. I don’t believe it’s accurate.

Then there was this week’s offering from Rich Eisen, who reported what he termed a rumor that Tom Brady might come out of retirement again while adding “the one place that folks are saying to keep an eye out for is Miami.”

Brady responded, on Twitter: “Anyone who thinks I have time to come back to the NFL has never adopted a 2 month old kitten for their daughter.”

Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio also continues to openly wonder whether Brady will play for the Dolphins next season.

On Wednesday, Florio wrote that it was “troubling” that the Dolphins won’t pursue Jackson. But why is it troubling? They cannot sign him to an offer sheet before the draft because they don’t have a first-round pick. And are they not allowed to prefer Tagovailoa to making any longshot, costly bid for Jackson?

To those who say the Dolphins haven’t been honest about their quarterback plans in the past, I would disagree.

The Dolphins never publicly committed to Tagovailoa while they explored acquiring Deshaun Watson in October 2021. They never lied about interest in Watson.

Watson’s attorney, Rusty Hardin, said the Dolphins wanted all of Watson’s accusers to settle lawsuits as a condition to a trade. Grier seemed to suggest that the Dolphins never demanded that, and it’s certainly conceivable that Grier wasn’t aware that owner Stephen Ross insisted on this stipulation, if true.

But at no time, during the Watson flirtation, did the Dolphins say they were fully committed to Tagovailoa while secretly trying to replace him. Brian Flores also chose his words carefully on the topic, never issuing an outright denial about interest in Watson. “I don’t really get into rumors; Tua is our quarterback,” Flores said before the 2021 trade deadline. (And that wasn’t a lie.)

What’s more, Grier acknowledged at the 2021 trade deadline that the Dolphins explored acquiring Watson.

And when they sent word 14 months ago that they weren’t making another bid to acquire Watson, that was truthful and accurate.

At no time did the Dolphins rule out Brady publicly while courting him privately.

My theory is that some reporters are manifesting their own doubts about Tagovailoa into skepticism about whether the Dolphins are being truthful when they discuss their commitment to him.

ESPN continues to spend entire segments questioning if the Dolphins will really stick with Tagovailoa.

Chris Canty, making assumptions that he shouldn’t, said the Dolphins “are not sure about our quarterback based on the health factor and [they want to] see what else is out there to be had in the marketplace. The only reason they’re not exercising Tua’s fifth year option immediately is because they’re not sold on him.”

Actually, not a single team has exercised its fifth-year option on any quarterback in the 2020 class. It’s commonplace for teams to wait until closer to the deadline.

Since the fifth-year option was created in the 2011 CBA, there have been 175 instances of a team exercising a fifth-year option, and only three have happened in March.

Pro Football Talk has said the Dolphins’ words regarding Tagovailoa are meaningless and their intentions will be revealed by their decision whether to exercise his 2024 option by the May 2 deadline.

But that’s not entirely accurate. The Dolphins can still be fully committed to Tagovailoa for 2023 while choosing to delay a decision on 2024 because of durability concerns.

As ESPN’s Darlington correctly noted, “If they don’t pick up the fifth year option, you could make a case that look, we don’t expect him to play on the fifth year deal anyway. If he has a successful season, they’ll extend him after it no matter what. He won’t play on that fifth year. If he doesn’t, they can just move on. [Delaying the decision] is just prudent business.”

Bottom line: When Grier discusses Tagovailoa, how about we believe what he says unless he gives us a reason not to believe him?

THIS AND THAT

TNT’s Charles Barkley criticized ESPN’s Kendrick Perkins this week after Perkins alleged on ESPN that some NBA MVP voters have a racial bias against Black players. Perkins’ opinion stemmed from the growing belief that Denver’s Nikola Jokic is the MVP front-runner.

In a heated discussion, ESPN’s JJ Redick pushed back at that notion this week, asserting that Perkins’ implication is an inaccurate narrative.

Barkley, appearing on Altitude Sports Radio, called Perkins’ opinion “asinine, silly and stupid.”

“I always talk about ESPN disease,” Barkley said. “A lot of these guys, when they get on TV and stuff, they’re like, ‘well I’m on ESPN, I got to say something provocative.’ And you know the thing about it, you’re always gonna get some fools out there, you guys probably get some fools calling in agreeing with him! I can promise you this, I’ve never said anything on television just to get clicks, that don’t mean I’ve been right or wrong, whatever.

“But I’ve never said something like, ‘well I know people are going to react and go crazy, let me say this.’ And this is what bothers me also, race is such a touchy subject because very few people have a pure heart. We can talk about race as much as you want to as long as you’re going to be fair and honest. But to slander this man [Jokić] in this situation is just total BS.”

▪ LIV golf ratings on the CW Network have been dismal. And XFL ratings have plummeted since Week 1, suggesting a lack of appetite for spring football.

▪ Amazon announced that it will make its Black Friday NFL game available to all viewers, not merely those with subscriptions to Amazon Prime. That game will be played at 3 p.m. the day after Thanksgiving.

▪ One significant announcer change on the NCAA Tournament: Stan Van Gundy will replace Reggie Miller alongside Kevin Harlan and Dan Bonner on one of CBS’ and Turner’s eight announcing teams. Miller opted not to do the tournament this year.

As usual, Jim Nantz, Ian Eagle, Harlan and Brian Anderson will work Sweet 16 games during the second weekend of the tournament. Nantz will be calling a Final Four for the final time before handing the baton to Eagle in 2024.