Dolphins' Tyreek Hill: Tua Tagovailoa 'should be one of the highest-paid quarterbacks' in NFL

The quarterback market appears to be soaring year by year.

This offseason has featured another handful of signal-callers getting new deals, from Kirk Cousins via free agency to Jared Goff and Trevor Lawrence re-signing with their respective teams.

In June, Miami Dolphins QB Tua Tagovailoa said he was “not concerned” about the state of his contract talks with the organization as he seeks a new one of his own. With training camp around the corner for the Dolphins, wide receiver Tyreek Hill explained why Tagovailoa deserves to be compensated well for his services.

“For people to like sit here and try to discredit Tua and say he’s not deserving of a contract is wild to me,” Hill said during Friday’s edition of ESPN’s SportsCenter. “A lot of guys on the team understand his value and understand that we need him. We need his leadership, we need the mindset that he brings into each and every week. It’s there. It’s like Terminator almost, man. I feel like he should be one of the highest-paid quarterbacks in the league.”

To become one of the highest-paid quarterbacks in 2024, Tagovailoa would have to receive around or above $50 million per year. The market is currently led by six QBs over that number: Joe Burrow ($55 million), Lawrence ($55 million), Goff ($53 million), Justin Herbert ($52.5 million), Lamar Jackson ($52 million) and Jalen Hurts ($51 million), per Over The Cap.

Tagovailoa is heading into his fifth season coming off a career year. He led the NFL with 4,624 passing yards and tossed 29 touchdowns while completing 69.3 percent of his passes in 17 games. It was Tagovailoa’s first full season after dealing with several injuries in the past, including a pair of concussions in 2022.

Hill, who’s “excited” to see where he fits in a new WR market, knows that Tagovailoa has shown great improvement in both years since the speedster was traded to Miami. Hill had a message for Tagovailoa’s doubters who say he hasn’t done enough to earn a new deal.

“From Tua’s development and where he’s come from and where he is now, that should speak volumes to a lot of people,” Hill said. “Like a lot of people can say, ‘Oh, he has coach (Mike) McDaniel calling plays. Oh, he has XYZ receivers,’ or ‘He’s got all these playmakers,’ but at the end of the day, you still got to get those playmakers the ball, you feel me? You’ve got to be able to prepare each and every week with the same mindset knowing that you got crazy defensive ends coming around the edge trying to take your head off. There’s a lot that goes into it.”

Miami’s veteran players are set to report to training camp on July 23. Only time will tell if Tagovailoa will have a new deal in place by then.