Top Three Rookie of the Year Candidates – Tua Tagovailoa, Justin Herbert and Joe Burrow

Published 11/18/2020, 8:24 PM EST

After a disastrous end to his final season with the Alabama Tigers, rookie quarterback Tua Tagovailoa is enjoying a thrilling debut season in the NFL with the Miami Dolphins.

The 22-year-old youngster started the season playing second fiddle to veteran quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick; however, he’s moved up since then.

Tua remains unbeaten after 3 games, leading the Dolphins to second in the AFC East Division table behind the Buffalo Bills. In doing so, Tagovailoa has now joined the race to bag the NFL Rookie of the Year award along with fellow rookie quarterbacks, Justin Herbert (Los Angeles Chargers) and Joe Burrow (Cincinnati Bengals).

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Tua Tagovailoa, Justin Herbert, and Joe Burrow lead the Rookie of the Year race

Domonique Foxworth: Tua Tagovailoa will have a better career than Joe Burrow and Justin Herbert. “That organization is set up to dominate the division. And he may be the most talented among the three.”
— Joe Schad (@schadjoe) November 18, 2020

As compared to his competitors, Tua has played for relatively fewer minutes in the league this season. Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert has been a starter since Week 2 while the 2019 Heisman Trophy winner Joe Burrow has played in every game for the Bengals.

However, the Hawaii-born quarterback has the same number of wins to his name as Herbert (1) and Burrow (2) combined.

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Tua has thrown for 500+ yards in 3 starts for the Dolphins with 5 passing touchdowns. Meanwhile, Herbert and Burrow have thrown for more than 2,400+ yards while playing for the respective teams over the first half of the season.

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Most TDs on 20+ yard throws by rookie QBs
1. Justin Herbert – 9
2. Joe Burrow – 1
2. Jake Luton – 1
4. Tua Tagovailoa – 0 pic.twitter.com/lXxaZKCzOp
— PFF College (@PFF_College) November 18, 2020

At this stage, it is safe to assume that Herbert is leading the race for the ROTY award. But if Tua keeps chalking up the wins for the Dolphins, he might jump the queue for major honors.

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The ‘Tua Tagovailoa fairytale’ is just getting started. We should all just sit back and enjoy the show after all this could be a legend in the making. It’s Tua time!

“Expected it to Be a Lot Harder”- Tua Tagovailoa Reacts to 3-0 Start With Miami Dolphins

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Daniel Arambur is an NFL writer and content strategist for EssentiallySports.With more than 1,000 articles, he is one of the senior writers in the NFL cohort at ES. A mass media graduate from the University of Mumbai, Daniel has found the perfect blend of vocation and passion in the sports content niche.

Top Three Rookie of the Year Candidates – Tua Tagovailoa, Justin Herbert and Joe Burrow

Tua Tagovailoa, Justin Herbert, and Joe Burrow lead the Rookie of the Year race

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