Tua Tagovailoa’s latest update shows general manager Chris Grier finally got the message

While Miami Dolphins fans wait for the full amount of Tua Tagovailoa’s next contract, Chris Grier and company are still working through the paperwork to reach an agreement.

Somewhere, probably on a golf course, the Dolphins franchise quarterback is waiting for his agent to send him a message that the deal is done. Tua said he was “can’t wait” to get the deal done, but it now appears that once the weekend is over, everything will soon change. In fact, things are expected to “heat up” over the next week, according to ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler.

The Dolphins would be smart to make Tagovailoa a deal now before other players like Jalen Hurts and Dak Prescott raise the salary bar higher than it already is. The extension signed by Trevor Lawrence pushed the next set of contracts to Joe Burrow’s level and it will only go up from there.

Grier simply waited too long and failed to anticipate market changes. Now he has no choice but to pay more for the team’s indecisions. If the Dolphins were trading with the idea that they would present Tua with a reasonable offer and then walk away from the table this offseason if it wasn’t accepted, that would make sense. They could challenge him to perform for another season at an elite level before paying him next offseason. That’s not the case if they continue to come back to the table, especially after Lawrence’s contract.

At an absolute minimum, Tagovailoa should receive the same amount as Lawrence, but that won’t be the case now and he’s likely to set the NFL record with his contract. Grier shouldn’t have waited to get this done. So much for the fact that this agreement is more advanced than Lawrence’s.