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Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa returned to practice this week, and his return—in theory—should help spark an offense that has grown stagnant and ineffective without him.
Wideout Tyreek Hill certainly seemed happy about the news on Wednesday while speaking with reporters, passing a message along to fantasy football managers in particular:
Fantasy football managers are aware of the huge difference Tagovailoa’s presence has for players like Hill and fellow wideout Jaylen Waddle.
In the two games Tagovailoa appeared in this season, Hill caught 10 passes for 154 yards and a touchdown, averaging 16.3 fantasy points per game in PPR formats. In four games without him, Hill has notched 14 receptions for 140 yards and no scores, averaging a lowly 7.6 fantasy points per game.
It’s even worse for Waddle.
In two games with Tua, Waddle posted nine catches for 150 yards and averaged 12.3 fantasy points per contest in PPR formats. Without him, Waddle had just 13 catches for 119 yards in four games, averaging just 6.2 fantasy points per week.
Even the running game has suffered, as defenses didn’t fear Tyler Huntley, Tim Boyle or Skylar Thompson and were able to stack the box. That trio also didn’t find easy dump-off opportunities for De’Von Achane in the passing game.
The star running back averaged an impressive 26.2 fantasy points per week when Tagovailoa was healthy in PPR formats but has dropped to an average of 6.9 points per game without him.
The entire Miami offense has been a train wreck, and it has left the team’s season on the brink, as the Dolphins are now just 2-4. Tagovailoa defended the quarterbacks who replaced him, but it’s obvious the team simply doesn’t execute at a high level when he goes down.
“Listen, I think it’s really tough to ask any of our quarterbacks to come in to do the footwork that we’ve been doing for the past two years,” he told reporters Monday. “To see fast guys running and seeing the space that’s there and asking them to kind of process all of that. We looked at film, we were able to see what we missed and what we could’ve got better with, but it’s a team sport. It shouldn’t take one position for this whole thing to crumble, everybody needs to be on their Ps and Qs as well.”
