Details emerge about contract talks between Tua Tagovailoa, Dolphins

Tua Tagovailoa is seeking a contract extension from the Miami Dolphins, and it does not sound as though the two sides have made much progress.

ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler said on “SportsCenter” on Sunday that the Dolphins have made at least one contract offer to Tagovailoa. Despite that, Tagovailoa has not been with the team on a full-time basis during voluntary workouts, which is likely an indication that a contract agreement is not close.

“He has missed some OTA time, I’ve confirmed, and really it could depend on how negotiations go with his contract as to whether he starts to show up or is there full time. They have had contract talks, preliminary talks,” Fowler said, as transcribed by Tyler Conway of Bleacher Report. “I’m told that the Dolphins have made at least one contract offer but we know how these things go; the offer apparently hasn’t been good enough or he’d probably be there full time. So, the market is pretty set. We saw Jared Goff, $50-plus million a year, that’s going to apply to Tua and Trevor Lawrence.”

Tagovailoa is entering the final year of his rookie contract. He is set to make $23.1M. There are currently five quarterbacks — Joe Burrow, Jared Goff, Justin Herbert, Lamar Jackson and Jalen Hurts — who make more than $50M per year on an average annual basis. Tagovailoa is unlikely to accept a salary that is lower than that.

There has been talk that Tagovailoa might be trying to send a message to the Dolphins about his contract. Still, it would be a surprise if he held out of training camp for a new deal.

Tagovailoa seemed confident earlier in the offseason that the Dolphins will give him a long-term deal. There is still plenty of time to make that happen, even if nothing is imminent.