Tua Tagovailoa appears noticably slimmer at Dolphins event amid contract extension rumors

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Tua Tagovailoa had a noticeably different appearance at a recent meet-and-greet with fans event this last week.

The Miami Dolphins quarterback, who is billed at 6-foot-1, 227 pounds according to Pro Football Reference, looked closer to 200 pounds at the event. And his new appearance had the football world clamoring about his durability.

Tagovailoa is set to enter his fifth season as an NFL quarterback, but he has only played more than 13 games in a single season once in his career, which was last season. He had injury concerns coming into the league — in fact, Tagovailoa sat out a large chunk of his final season at Alabama after a major hip injury in late 2019 — but Miami took a chance on him despite those concerns, selecting him fifth overall in 2020. He's been good since and was selected to his first Pro Bowl last season. 

Colin Cowherd thinks his slim frame is a recipe for disaster. 

"He's a pocket quarterback," Cowherd said Monday on The Herd. "It's a little alarming. He looked really, really thin. … I've said this before, aesthetics matter. We saw last week an organization pull a beer out of Luka Dončić's hand in a hallway that fans could not see, because there was one camera off to the side."

Not only do aesthetics matter, Cowherd said, but he also said most of the NFL's elite quarterbacks have not exactly been slim, naming Peyton and Eli Manning, Tom Brady, John Elway, Bett Farve and Aaron Rodgers among the legends who have not exactly fit a slim profile.

Cowherd then gave a fitting analogy for his quarterback preferences.

"I like my quarterbacks like my furniture," he said. "Big and hard to move. You need two or three people. If you can get into a hatchback by yourself, I'm not interested. Draft somebody else. Tua is not a hyper-athletic quarterback who wants to get faster. He's not really that mobile. He's not big. He doesn't have a power arm. Phillip Rivers to me, that's the perfect quarterback body. 6'5, 230. He once played 14 straight seasons of at least 16 games. He once played with a torn ACL. It matters."

Tagovailoa's not the only quarterback who looked noticeably thinner during the offseason. Lamar Jackson appeared to have lost weight in several offseason training videos posted to social media, and his frame was the subject of much discussion as well.

Cowherd argued, however, that Jackson's mobility makes that weight loss more excusable.

"I understand a little with Lamar Jackson losing weight," Cowherd said. "He's hyper-mobile, perhaps wants to get faster. … I like big, I like sturdy, I like can play hurt. I don't get it. 

"I cannot believe that there wasn't at least one Miami upstairs that said, ‘Wow, [Tua] looks thin.’  He's already small. He's already got an average arm."

However, Miami still appears ready to hand Tagovailoa a long-term contract to be their quarterback of the future. The Athletic reported Monday that Tagovailoa and the Dolphins are still expected to work out a contract extension at some point later this summer. 

Miami is coming off an 11-6 record and a first-round playoff exit to Kansas City in January. Tagovailoa tossed 4,624 yards and 29 TD during the regular season. He threw 14 interceptions and connected on 69.3% of his pass attempts.

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