Chances are you’ve heard the comparison and the argument for why the Miami Dolphins’ quarterback Tua Tagovailoa isn’t really as good as his statistics would indicate. The Shanahan system has always elevated these “mid-tier” quarterbacks and turned them into top-10 ones. From a high-level view, you can’t really argue against that point. It’s true, the Shanahan system has taken some mediocre QBs (Garoppolo, Goff, Schaub) and given them career years.
Of course, the term “career year,” is a relative one and that’s where we are going to push back on this narrative. Sure, all of these passers had success playing in a Shanahan system, but did any of them have as much success as Tua Tagovailoa has had in 2022?