The made a big decision on Tuesday by reportedly replacing with ahead of their Week 7 bye. The move comes days after Fitzpatrick helped guide Miami to its second straight win -- and just a game out of first place in the AFC East. And while the upside of the turn to Tua at quarterback, you might be wondering what history has to say about rookie QBs and how their teams tend to fare after they take over under center.The short answer: It isn't pretty. Again, the Dolphins are in the unique position of both needing some juice for a rare AFC East title
Taylor Gabriel Jersey run and needing to see what they have beyond 2020, so unleashing Tagovailoa early on is probably the right move. But if you're going strictly off previous results of first-round QB takeovers, the numbers heavily suggest Miami is bound to sit out the playoffs altogether. Of course, that could all change if Tua hits the ground running (not literally speaking), but history is working against the Dolphins for sure.We decided to comb through every one of the first-round QBs of the last 10 years, including this season, and chart what happened in their first start, which veteran they replaced, and how their respective
Prince Amukamara Jersey teams finished the year. Here are the broad results:Combined record of QB first career starts: 9-20-1Combined record of teams with QB change: 168-282-3Best team finish: 2012 (11-5)Worst team finish: Five-way tie (3-13) Understand, most of all, that teams turning to rookie first-round QBs are often on track for bad seasons anyway; there's a reason they were able to draft a QB so high in the first place. In other words, it shouldn't be a surprise that the majority of teams who've made switches to first-round QBs ended up with losing records. Still, if anything, it should speak to the unlikely position in which the Dolphins have placed themselves by making the call at 3-3 and in the division race. Should the Tagovailoa swap work, it'll also stand out as one of the rare occasions where a first-round rookie succe sfully uplifted his entire team that same season.Here's the full breakdown of first-round QBs to get their first career starts over the last 10 years: QBTeamDraftedReplacedFirst StartTeam Finish No. 1 Week 1 (L, 16-13)TBD (1-4-1)Tua TagovailoaDolphinsNo. 5 Ryan Fitzpatrick Week 8 (TBD)
Gale Sayers Jersey TBDNo. 6Week 2 (L, 23-20)TBD (1-4)QBTeamDraftedReplacedFirst StartTeam Finish No. 1 Week 1 (T, 27-27)5-10-1No. 6 Week 3 (W, 32-31)4-12WashingtonNo. 15Week 9 (L, 24-9)3-13QBTeamDraftedReplacedFirst StartTeam Finish No. 1 Tyrod Taylor Week 4 (L, 45-42)7-8-1No. 3 Week 1 (W, 48-17)4-12No. 7Week 2 (L, 31-20)6-10Josh RosenCardinalsNo. 10Week 4 (L, 20-17)3-13No. 32Week 11 (W, 24-21)10-6QBTeamDraftedReplacedFirst StartTeam Finish
Walter Payton Jersey No. 2Week 5 (L, 20-17)5-11No. 10 Week 17 (W, 27-24)10-6No. 12Week 2 (W, 13-9)4-12QBTeamDraftedReplacedFirst StartTeam Finish No. 1 Case Keenum Week 11 (L, 14-10)4-12No. 2 Sam Bradford Week 1 (W, 29-10)7-9No. 26Week 5 (L, 23-16)9-7QBTeamDraftedReplacedFirst StartTeam Finish No. 1 Josh McCown Week 1 (L, 42-14)6-10Marcus MariotaNo. 2 Week 1 (W, 42-14)3-13QBTeamDraftedReplacedFirst StartTeam Finish No. 3 Week 4 (L, 33-14)3-13BrownsNo. 22 Week 15 (L, 30-0)7-9No. 32Week 4 (W, 41-28)7-9QBTeamDraftedReplacedFirst StartTeam Finish BillsNo. 16 Ryan Fitzpatrick Week 1 (L, 23-21)6-10QBTeamDraftedReplacedFirst StartTeam Finish ColtsNo. 1 Week
Tarik Cohen Jersey 1 (L, 41-21)11-5WashingtonNo. 2 Rex Gro sman Week 1 (W, 40-32)10-6DolphinsNo. 8Chad HenneWeek 1 (L, 30-10)7-9BrownsNo. 22Week 1 (L, 17-16)5-11QBTeamDraftedReplacedFirst StartTeam Finish No. 1 Week 1 (L, 28-21)6-10TitansNo. 8 2012 Week 1 (L, 34-13)6-10JaguarsNo. 10Week 2 (L, 32-3)5-11VikingsNo. 12Donovan McNabbWeek 7 (L, 33-27)3-13