Contract negotiations between Tua Tagovailoa and the Miami Dolphins continue to drag on. Will an agreement be reached or will the quarterback take drastic measures?

The saga surrounding Tua Tagovailoa and the Miami Dolphins continues.

As Jeff Darlington of “ESPN” reports, a mega-deal for the quarterback is not imminent. “Right now, the Dolphins aren’t offering the contract that’s market value, based on the contracts that have been finalized.”

The reporter is alluding to the two mega-deals signed at the quarterback position during the offseason. In May, the Detroit Lions signed Jared Goff to a four-year contract worth 212 million dollars, of which 170 million dollars are guaranteed.

A few weeks ago, the Jacksonville Jaguars followed suit with a five-year contract worth 275 million dollars and total guarantees of up to 200 million dollars for former No. 1 pick Trevor Lawrence.

Tua Tagovailoa facing holdout?

Tagovailoa is in the final year of his rookie contract, which pays the 2020 first-round pick about $23.2 million via the fifth-year option.

Miami’s quarterback believes this is clearly too little and wants to be adequately compensated for his recent performances. In the 2023 season, he led the league with 4,624 passing yards, played in all 17 games of the regular season and reached the playoffs with the team, where they lost to the Kansas City Chiefs.

Accordingly, “Pro Football Talk” assumes that the Dolphins plan to make the player a final offer before the start of training camp. This is said to be significantly higher than his option, but also significantly below the market value of Goff and Lawrence.

A salary of over 50 million dollars per season, as the playmaker is said to be aiming for, is therefore out of the question for the franchise, as various media reports suggest.

The obvious option for Tagovailoa could therefore be to sit out the camp in order to put pressure on the franchise via a holdout towards the start of the new season and possibly persuade them to give in after all