I saw this interview. He also went on to say that Tua's confidence is shot and his arm strength isn't there any more...his passes don't have the zip on them that they used to. He just feels that his time in Miami is over and doesn't want the drama of a $250 million quarterback on the roster sitting backup. I have to say I agree. Tua needs to go elsewhere to resurrect his career if that's what he wants.
I don't think that's saying anything that the rest of us haven't felt. I'd love to call it a "down year" and maybe there were some hidden injuries that held him back. But I happened to watch some highlight reel from a few seasons ago and I couldn't believe I was looking at the same QB. The way he moved, the way he reacted, it looked like Tua was 20 years older today. Something is so very, very off. With that said, it doesn't mean his career is over. Great players adapt and find new ways to be effective, so I wish the kid luck if he lands on another team. Maybe he'll get another chance to lead an offense someday.
Me personally, I don't think anything is "off." We are seeing what some of us said we would see, from the very beginning, and why some of us said he should not have been drafted where he was, and that he would almost certainly never live up to his draft status. I've said from day one that he was basically Ted Ginn 2.0. He was indeed fragile, and not made for the NFL. That hip injury was all that was necessary to not draft him above round 4.
I personally think you're wrong and that his regression is just as much mental as it is physical. I think back to his season with multiple concussions- the first thing he did after returning on a run play was dive head-first trying to go through a defender. That takes guts, I'll give him that, but it was also trying to prove (to himself) that he wasn't playing scared...or maybe he was trying to conquer that fear by playing reckless. I don't know. In 2025, I think he was simply going through the motions and playing scared of any type of contact. At the end of the day I guess it doesn't matter, it's the same conclusion either way and it's now proving to be a terrible pick. I was against drafting him as well for the same reasons as you- juggernaut offense where he looked perfect by scheme and design. Yet, even on limited contacts, there was major injury almost every single year of his high school and college career. Maybe where we differ was that as soon as we did draft him, I was all-in and rooting for the kid because we ultimately had no choice. I'm the same way with Ewers now as well, even though the chances of him developing are not that great. We'll see though and I'll be a Ewers fan until there's no other option. We reached that point on Tua last season and I hated it, but that's just the reality.
