Dolphins' Jaylen Waddle offers high praise for Tua Tagovailoa

Miami Dolphins wide receiver Jaylen Waddle recently made it known he loves having a healthy Tua Tagovailoa as his starting quarterback. 

"His ball placement," Waddle told KPRC in Houston about Tagovailoa's positive attributes, per Michael David Smith of Pro Football Talk. "I think everybody sees it, knowing exactly where to place the ball so his receivers can not just catch it, but catch it and run with it. That’s what makes Tua Tua." 

According to ESPN stats, Waddle finished his first regular season with Mike McDaniel as Miami's head coach and ranked first among qualified players with an average of 18.1 yards per reception. In total, the 24-year-old tallied 75 catches for 1,356 yards and eight touchdowns this past campaign. 

Waddle first had Tagovailoa as his QB1 when both were with the Alabama Crimson Tide, and they have now played together in Miami across the past two NFL seasons. 

"It’s great," Waddle said about his relationship with Tagovailoa. "Tua’s a great guy. We’ve got years in with us playing together, so it’s always good being familiar with your quarterback, from the college game to the NFL game. It’s like riding a bike, getting back playing with him. It’s fun. You don’t have to learn quarterback tendencies when you’ve already played with him." 

The biggest worry regarding Tagovailoa remains his concerning injury history after he suffered a minimum of two reported concussions last season. The head injury he experienced on Christmas Day kept him in the league's concussion protocol for over a month and prevented him from playing in what became Miami's playoff loss to the Buffalo Bills in January. Nevertheless, the Dolphins picked up the fifth-year option attached to Tagovailoa's rookie contract this offseason, and that decision should keep him with the club through at least the 2024 campaign. 

Waddle's comments suggest he wants Miami to lock Tagovailoa down via an extension sooner rather than later.