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With Tom Brady now a member of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the AFC East’s quarterback power rankings will look a bit different in 2020.
For a long time, ranking the quarterbacks in the AFC East was arbitrary and reductive. Tom Brady was always at the top and the other three quarterbacks would fall behind him.
Times have changed with Brady off to Tampa Bay, meaning there is a new world order in terms of AFC East quarterbacks. How do the new quarterbacks rank? Let’s start with our fourth-best quarterback, Tua Tagovailoa of the Miami Dolphins.
4. Tua Tagovailoa (Miami Dolphins)
2019 Stats (College): 71.4% completions, 2,840 yards, 33 touchdowns, 3 interceptions
In terms of pure promise, Tagovailoa might be the most talented player on the list and end up with the best career. The Dolphins banked on that promise when they made him the fifth pick in the draft, with Tagovailoa having a chance to compete with Ryan Fitzpatrick for the starting job in training camp.
The reason Tagovailoa is last on the list is because he hasn’t played a down in the NFL yet, so it’s not fair to rank him ahead of three other quarterbacks that have played in the league already. There are also significant injury risks with Tagovailoa, who has already had surgery on both ankles and a serious hip injury this past season.
If we do this list again in five years, there is a great chance Tagovailoa will be on top of it. At this moment in 2020, however, Tagovailoa is looking up at the rest of the quarterbacks in his division.