Tua Tagovailoa expects new long-term Dolphins deal this offseason after Miami exercised quarterback’s fifth-year option in 2023: ‘There’s been communications’

Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa has revealed that he expects to sign a contract extension with the team this season.

Tagovailoa, who spent his entire four-year NFL career in Miami, addressed the situation after being questioned by reporters Friday at the Pro Bowl Games in Orlando, Florida.

The Alabama college star is the AFC’s starting quarterback at the Pro Bowl Games after throwing a career-high 29 touchdown passes and leading the NFL with 4,624 passing yards, also a career high this season.

“There has been communication,” Tagovailoa said of new contract talks with the Dolphins ESPN. “I think the point right now is I’ll just let the team talk to my agent and let them figure that out.”

In March, the Dolphins picked up Tagovailoa’s fifth-year option worth $23.171 million for the 2024 season.

After the Dolphins’ season ended last month with a loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC wild-card round, Miami general manager Chris Grier indicated the club’s goal is to keep Tagovailoa with the organization.

“The goal is to have him play here at a high level for a long time,” Grier said. “That’s always the goal, and we’ll continue to communicate with him here in the offseason.

“As we’ve always said in the past, you know me, we don’t really talk to the media because of all that stuff, so we just keep all those conversations internally and with his representatives.”

Tagovailoa, who turns 26 in March, has racked up 12,639 yards, 81 touchdowns and 37 interceptions in 53 appearances (51 starts) in four seasons since the Dolphins selected him fifth overall in the 2020 draft.

While he may not be in it, the Dolphins quarterback is the star of a new ad for Super Bowl LVIII, in which he appears alongside Sir Patrick Stewart, Drew Barrymore Creed and a number of iconic TV characters for Paramount+.

Peppa Pig, Knuckles and Master Chief also appear in the hilarious two-minute advert, which takes place on ‘Paramount Mountain’, where Stewart says ‘the stakes get higher’.

Tagovailoa is seen trying to throw a rope to the top of a giant rock wall, but is unable to reach the top.

“I can’t get that thing in there. If it was a football, I could reach the top,” he tells Stewart and the rest of the gang.

‘What about a football-shaped head? We’re throwing the kid away,” Stewart suggests, pointing to “Arnold” — the character from “Hey Arnold!” who was known as ‘football head’.

This causes an argument among the group and Tua ultimately refuses, insisting: ‘I’m not going to throw a child’

That provokes a hilarious response from Star Trek star Stewart. ‘Not currently built, I see. Fine, I’ll throw it.’

The 83-year-old Englishman then sheds his jacket to reveal a retro football uniform with the number 1 under ‘Sir Patrick’.

“It’s the fifth quarter, we need a hole-in-one before the seventh inning,” he says, much to the bewilderment of Tua and Co.