00:00Will Manso is on the Toyota of Hollywood Hotline, sports anchor and reporter on Local 10.
00:05You see him during heat broadcasts on FanDuel Sports Network Sun.
00:09The Heat are as hot as any team in the NBA, but the Dolphins in the NFL stealing their thunder
00:15today.
00:16Will, hello Will.
00:19How are you guys?
00:20Yeah, not the day I expected today.
00:22I knew this day would come.
00:23I just didn't know it would be today.
00:25Yeah, it's a lot of stuff to figure out in one day.
00:29So the Tua Tonga-Vailoa era in Miami was what?
00:36You know, average, mediocre and disappointing.
00:39I think you can't say it was a complete failure because there was success there.
00:44And I thought, you know, the couple of the playoff appearances, the big season in 2023,
00:48the signs that maybe this was going to be the guy to fit with Mike McDaniel.
00:53I know it's easy to look back and forget that because it ended so poorly.
00:56But I think you have to look at those successes and say, OK, it's not a complete failure.
01:00But I also think you have to look back, guys, and look and say, what was the issue going into
01:04this whole idea of Tua's your QB, right?
01:07The injuries, could he hold up for, you know, the consistency in the NFL avoiding injuries?
01:12Obviously, when you look back, that wasn't the case.
01:14He couldn't.
01:15Between the concussions and the hip issues and the other things, he really regressed last year to this point.
01:20So I think if they hadn't given him that huge contract, then this wasn't going to hurt so much if
01:25it was just a fifth-year option.
01:27But when you look at the money and you hear $99 million, it's hard to sit there and say, hey,
01:31it was great.
01:31It was worth it.
01:32Obviously, in the end, it wasn't.
01:34And, Will, to that point, was it a mistake drafting him or a mistake paying him two years too early?
01:41I think, you know, Jenny, I think looking back at it, I think we could all agree that even the
01:46biggest Tua supporter has to agree that the right choice would have been Justin Herbert.
01:51But you hire Mike McDaniel, whose offense seemed tailored for Tua.
01:56Ironically enough, he ends up with Herbert anyways a few years later as an offensive coordinator.
01:59But I think the whole idea of Tua and what they wanted to do and the speed, we saw it
02:05work for that one special year where all the great things came together.
02:08It was so much fun.
02:09It felt like Dolphins football was back.
02:11So it's hard to say it was a mistake at that time.
02:15Looking back, sure, it looks like a mistake.
02:17I think the bigger mistake, though, guys, is the contract.
02:19And it's funny because the two teams that I follow the most, the team that I love, the Giants, you
02:24guys know that,
02:24and the team that I also cover and root for, the Dolphins, they both made a fatal mistake.
02:29The Dolphins giving Tua that contract for a big year.
02:32The Giants gave Daniel Jones a big contract after his big year and they won a playoff game.
02:37That 50-year option long-term question that teams have with QBs is so hard to answer.
02:42And in this case, the Dolphins got burned by it.
02:44I mean, they did.
02:45He had a big year.
02:46He played well.
02:47They thought he could hold up and be that guy, and it wasn't the case.
02:50The Dolphins tank for Tua, Will.
02:52And when we reflect on after they draft him, who was most responsible for, as you called it,
02:59average, a disappointing era with Tua?
03:03Is it Tua and the injuries, as you mentioned, or is it Chris Greer, the general manager,
03:07when we kind of reflect on the whole six-year process?
03:10Yeah.
03:11I mean, look, the three guys that were involved in the process are all gone, right?
03:14That tells you how much this regime looked at it and said, look, Chris Greer is gone.
03:18This new regime comes in.
03:19Mike McDaniel is gone.
03:20And Tua is gone.
03:21And I think when you go in order, I think Chris Greer has to be the number one guy
03:25because he's the main decision maker.
03:28And it was right there in his hands of what he wanted to do.
03:30And he went with, not only did he go with Tua in the draft, which again, looking back
03:34on it, wasn't the worst decision.
03:35I didn't think, I'm not going to sit here and tell you that I thought it was a terrible
03:38draft pick.
03:38I didn't.
03:39I thought it was fine.
03:40But the big long-term money then, there's a reason Chris Greer is not the Dolphins general
03:44manager anymore.
03:45And the handling of that is probably the biggest reason.
03:47I think number two has to be Tua because he just couldn't hold up and the regression
03:53he had the last few years.
03:54And I don't know if I'm right on this guys, but I think you'll probably agree.
03:57There was certainly something mental too going on with Tua aside from the physical part.
04:00He just looked shell-shocked that after the concussions and the injuries, he was jittery
04:05in the pocket.
04:06He, you know, the whole scene ghost kind of thing that you hear about QBs seemed to really
04:09be happening with him last year.
04:11The final piece would be McDaniel because I think in the end he put his, his offense, it
04:14didn't work.
04:15He tried different things.
04:16He benched him.
04:16But again, he's gone.
04:18So I would say that's the order and they each have some sort of responsibility with
04:21Greer being the biggest one.
04:23And now we've moved on.
04:25Well, we've, we've cleansed it all.
04:27Everybody's gone.
04:28Now we have a date plan.
04:30They got divorced and had a date on the same day.
04:33I'm telling you, they say, yeah, come on in.
04:36The bed's warm still.
04:37Malik Willis, how do you, how do you feel about what happened today?
04:41The quarterback moved this fast, but how do you feel about the Malik Willis?
04:44What is it?
04:4445 million guaranteed three years, 63 overall.
04:49Yeah.
04:50I mean, my feeling is this.
04:52They, they know him better than anyone, right?
04:53They were there day to day.
04:55They saw him day to day.
04:56They see the kind of person he is, the kind of player he is.
04:58The talent is undeniable.
05:00The kid, the guy's got a bazooka for an arm and he can move.
05:02And we saw some of it, whatever happened in Tennessee, they didn't work out.
05:05He clearly was getting more comfortable and learning the league more.
05:09You're getting a polished player in the sense of understanding the way the league works,
05:13but you're not getting a polished player.
05:14As far as the production, 155 career, you know, completions at the NFL level, 34 attempts,
05:20or excuse me, attempts at the NFL level, 35 this year.
05:23That is not a big sample size, but I think in this day and age, we get caught up so
05:27much
05:27in money, you know, and the cap keeps going up.
05:30This is essentially a two-year deal.
05:31Yeah.
05:31It's a lot of money.
05:32And if he stinks, you know, you look back and say, oh boy, they, they made a mistake
05:35there.
05:36If he doesn't, you could potentially have your guy for the long-term, you know, you could
05:39always re-sign to a long-term deal after the, you know, a year or two.
05:41And you said, this is our guy, but more than anything, I think this shows Channing what John
05:46Eric Sullivan said in his first press conference.
05:48They're going to keep swinging for a quarterback.
05:50They'll take a quarterback every year or two in the draft or whatever it may be.
05:53And they're going to keep doing it until they find the guy.
05:55And to me, this is swing number one, like, okay, two has gone, boom, pick up the bat
05:59swing again.
06:00Let's bring in this guy, Malik Willis and see what he could do.
06:03But I don't think this in any way handicaps them or slows them down from the idea that
06:07even as soon as next year's draft in 2027, that they wouldn't be looking at a quarterback
06:11of the future.
06:12If Willis isn't the answer.
06:13Does it change the way you look at next season at all?
06:17Because now you've got a quarterback and you're paying them over 20 mil a season.
06:21So this isn't, you know, Quinn Ewers on a rookie deal.
06:24This is someone that they think has the talent to win, but you've lost Tua, Tyreek Hill, Bradley
06:31Chubb, Nick Westbrook-Akine, James Daniels, Jason Sanders, Alec Ingold, Liam Eikenberg,
06:37Minka Fitzpatrick, Jake Bailey.
06:39So what is next season in your mind right now?
06:44I mean, I still think this is a rebuild.
06:46I don't think anything, I don't think getting Malik Willis, because remember, Malik Willis
06:49does come with questions.
06:51It's not like you're getting a guy who's put up the track record of big numbers and success
06:55in the NFL level.
06:56You're going on based on his talent and potential.
07:00And when you talk about the kind of money like 20 million plus, that is mid-tier money
07:04for a quarterback.
07:05It's not a discount deal.
07:06You certainly see discount deals like, you know, James Winston signs somewhere for $10 million.
07:10That's a discount deal.
07:11But it's not a big quarterback deal like we saw with Tua and other QBs and the money they
07:14get.
07:15You're sort of in the middle.
07:16So the way my season expectations go for this team, I think they still have a lot of
07:21work to do.
07:22I think if this is the answer for the quarterback, you've got to try to put some pieces around
07:25them.
07:25But chances are they're going to be young pieces.
07:27Again, go back to day one.
07:29What did John Eric Sullivan tell you?
07:30They build through the draft.
07:32And the draft is young players.
07:34And with young players, you're going to have ups and downs and learning curves in the process
07:37of getting to the NFL, it doesn't change this season for me much.
07:41You know, what did Vegas say?
07:43The Dolphins are a three or four win team?
07:44Sure.
07:45Maybe they're a five or six win team now, seven win team potentially.
07:48But I don't see them getting Malik Willis.
07:50All of a sudden, the expectation becomes this could be a playoff team.
07:53They've got a lot of building to do.
07:55Hey, Will, is Tua still, even though it was a disappointing six years, is he still the
08:00best quarterback since Dan Marino?
08:03It's a good question because I was thinking about it today.
08:05You know, longevity-wise, him and Tannehill essentially had the same careers.
08:09Ryan stayed a little more healthy.
08:10Tua had a little bit more productive when he was healthy.
08:13But neither won a playoff game.
08:14So I think you can put those guys in the mix there.
08:17And there's obviously, there are the individual guys like a Jay Fiedler or Chad Pennington
08:22that had a little more success in that post-Marino era.
08:24But for the short term, I think you can put them up there with Tannehill.
08:28But it doesn't matter, guys.
08:29In the end, all the numbers in the world and the Pro Bowl appearance in that one special year
08:33in 2023, this franchise still hasn't won a playoff game in a quarter century.
08:37And until they do, I don't think it matters how we rate those quarterbacks.
08:41I mean, it tells you this.
08:43If Tua is the best quarterback they've had, the most successful since Dan Marino, then
08:47this franchise is an absolute mess right now.
08:49And that's why they have a new regime trying to fix it.
08:51Because that's not saying much when you're talking 25 years later.
08:55Put some respect on the Tua era, Will.
08:58How dare you, day one post-Tua, you're going to go down that road.
09:02Not acceptable.
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