Much has been made about the Dolphins trying to trade for DeShaun Watson this year, and it seems like they’ve already given up on Tua after drafting him #5 overall in the 2020 Draft.

Though it seems like the Dolphins have already decided they’re out on Tua, today he just completed his 16th NFL start, giving us data on him for a full NFL season–or at least a full season as of the year he was drafted. Tua has not been that bad at all, actually:

He’s no Justin Herbert of course, but he’s been pretty decent.

And the Dolphins are now on a 4 game winning streak after losing 7 straight games. They’re surprisingly now 5-7, and while they’re in 13th place in the AFC, they’re only a game and-a-half out of a wild card spot right now. This team was 1-7 at one point!

Their next three games are vs. Giants, vs. Jets and at Saints, all three winnable games. The Dolphins could be 8-7 in three weeks time.

Not only has Tua been pretty good, Jaylen Waddle is starting to look like the star receiver the Dolphins expected him to be when they drafted him #6 overall in this year’s draft.

Things are really turning around for the Miami Dolphins right now, and I think Tua has been a large part of that turnaround.

He hasn’t been spectacular, but he’s only started 16 full games so far in his young career. And he’s getting better and better.

I don’t think there’s been any QB in recent NFL history who has been judged as harshly as Tua has this early in his career, and I really don’t know why. It’s like the Dolphins gave up on him almost immediately.

Tua has been doing all this without, it would seem, the support of the Dolphins organization, which makes it all the more impressive. This guy has had to overcome quite a bit in his young career.