Darius Butler: ‘I’m not fully as confident in Tua Tagovailoa as I am in Jalen Hurts’

When you’re a first-round pick, you’re always going to be compared to the other guys who were selected in your draft. For Miami Dolphins Tua Tagovailoa, that includes guys like Joe Burrow and Justin Herbert, who were both first-round selections with him.

However, this also includes a guy that was taken in the second round of the 2020 draft and also shared a locker room with Tagovailoa at Alabama in Jalen Hurts.

The juxtapositions won’t be stopping any time soon, and this week was no different, as former NFL defensive back Darius Butler joined “The Pat McAfee Show.” He was asked who would have the better season between the two former Crimson Tide signal-callers.

Butler ultimately decided to pick Hurts, but he gave his thoughts on Tagovailoa and his situation in South Florida.

“Unfortunately, it may be a make or break year for him,” Butler said. “He’s got a first-year head coach, I think a first-year play-caller too with Mike McDaniel. With (Jaylen) Waddle and (Tyreek) Hill, like over in Philly, you have A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith. Those are two completely different wide receivers who are gonna give you different things, and you have Hurts and his legs. With Tua, I’m interested to see how they make that offense make mix. There’s a ton of speed, but we need third-and-seven or two-minute drive. Are you gonna be able to move that ball down the field? We got to see it. I’m not fully as confident in Tua right now as I am in Jalen Hurts.

“I like Tua. It’s set up for him, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s a little struggle this year to get going early. If you give Tua, I’ll say, two years with Mike McDaniel as well, this is his first year, it’s a lot to take on for a new head coach.”

Despite being selected a full round after the Dolphins quarterback, Hurts has played in more games than him to this point, however, Tagovailoa has started more. In 23 games, Tagovailoa has amassed 4,704 total yards, 33 total touchdowns and 15 interceptions while completing 66.2% of his passes. For Hurts, in 30 games, he’s totaled 5,343 total yards, 35 total touchdowns and 13 interceptions while completing just 59% of his attempts.

While it would be nice to allow Tagovailoa the time to learn under an offensive-minded head coach and be in the same system for some time, it’s unrealistic to think that he’ll be allowed to lead the team in two seasons if there’s not a jump that’s taken between now and then.