Will Tua Tagovailoa be the next QB to get a big payday?

Quarterbacks Tua Tagovailoa and Justin Herbert came off the board back-to-back in the 2020 NFL Draft. The Miami Dolphins took Tagovailoa from Alabama at No. 5, and the Los Angeles Chargers chose Herbert from Oregon at No. 6.
Until Tuesday, both quarterbacks were entering the final season of their rookie contracts and set to play the 2024 season on fifth-year options that their teams had picked up this offseason.
But on Tuesday, the Chargers announced Herbert had signed a five-year contract extension that could keep the QB with Los Angeles through the 2029 season.
Having a reported value of $262.5 million, the contract included a signing bonus of $16.128 million and guaranteed option bonuses of $50.6 million in 2024 and $45 million in 2025.
Tagovailoa has a $1.01 million base salary for the 2023 season, and when he got to training camp, he qualified for a $3.728 million roster bonus. Next season, when Herbert will get $56.6 million through his base salary and option bonus, Tagovailoa will play for $23.171 million, the value of his fifth-year option.
Could the former Crimson Tide All-American be the next NFL quarterback to sign a big-money extension?
Tagovailoa said he didn’t know of any contract talks going on with the Dolphins.
“I haven’t talked about any contract since what I’ve understood with my fifth-year extension,” Tagovailoa said on Wednesday. “I don’t think that’s a worry of mine. When things come, they’ll come because you either deserved it or it’s supposed to happen that way.”
But Tagovailoa did take note of Herbert’s new deal.
“I mean, it’s big. Big,” Tagovailoa said. “First off, congrats to him and congrats to Jalen (Hurts) as well earlier on his contract. I think it’s really good for the quarterback market. That’s what I would say: It’s really good for the quarterback market. It gets me excited, gets me going. But at the same time, they got what they deserve, and I’m happy for them.”
Herbert wasn’t the first quarterback from the 2020 draft class to sign an extension. A teammate of Tagovailoa at Alabama, Hurts joined the Philadelphia Eagles as a second-round selection.
After leading the Eagles to the NFC championship and into Super Bowl LVII last season, Hurts signed a five-year contract extension in April. The $255 million deal came with a $23.294 million signing bonus, and in the 2024 season, Hurts is set to be paid $1.125 million as a base salary and $38.875 million as an option bonus.
Philadelphia had more urgency to sign Hurts to a contract extension than the Chargers with Herbert and the Dolphins with Tagovailoa. The Eagles did not have a fifth-year option on Hurts’ contract, since those are included only for first-rounders, so the Philadelphia QB was entering the final season of his rookie deal in 2023.
As it stands now, Tagovailoa ranks 30th for 2023 and 17th for 2024 on the NFL’s quarterback pay chart.
“I think regardless of what it is -- if they wanted to do it now, if they wanted to wait, whatever,” Tagovailoa said about the possibility of a contract extension with the Dolphins, “I think for myself I’m always a person that wants to prove to myself that I deserve whatever I get, so for me, I feel like this is something that I need to work for.
“It’s as plain and simple as that.”
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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.