'He's a smart player': Ex-teammate, SEC rivals with Browns know Tua Tagovailoa's talents

BEREA − Grant Delpit was part of the last college defense to hand Tua Tagovailoa a loss while he was still a highly-regarded prospect at Alabama. Or, considering it was a 46-41 LSU win that day, part of the defense that at least kept him from scoring more points.

A lot has transpired for both Delpit and Tagovailoa since Nov. 9, 2019, when their college teams met in a No. 2-vs.-No. 3 showdown in Tuscaloosa, Ala. Both have sustained significant injuries − Delpit a torn Achilles that cost him his 2020 rookie season; Tagovailoa a hip injury that ended his 2019 final season at Alabama.

Now, four days beyond three years to the day of that classic showdown, Delpit will see Tagovailoa for the first time as pros when the Browns travel to Miami to face the Dolphins on Sunday. What Delpit sees when he watches his former SEC West rival is a quarterback who has taken his talents and married them with the expected growth a first-round, top-five draft pick should go through once they get to the league.

"He's pretty much like everybody," Delpit told the Beacon Journal. "A little bit improved. You get to NFL, you get a lot smarter, get smarter with your decisions, and they draw plays up for you based on your strengths. You see Miami does that a lot and he fits well in the system. So it's a different system than Alabama, for sure."

That system under first-year head coach Mike McDaniel has allowed Tagovailoa to not just take another step forward. It's allowed him to take gigantic leap.

Tagovailoa is the league's top-rated passer at 115.9. He's guiding the NFL's No. 2-ranked passing offense which is averaging 293.6 yards per game, a number that goes up to 311.7 yards in the six games that he started and finished.

For the season, Tagovailoa is third in the NFL in completion percentage at 69.9%. Tagovailoa came into the season having completed 66.2% of his passes.

"I want to say that he got better just, you know, trying to read coverages and slinging the ball a little bit," Browns cornerback Greedy Williams, who faced Tagovailoa in his final season at LSU in 2018, told the Beacon Journal. "Standing in the pocket a lot more. Those are the kind of improvements I've seen from him."

What's also helped Tagovailoa has been playing more consistently. Between injuries and then-head coach Brian Flores' decision for him to start his rookie season as Ryan Fitzpatrick' backup, he only played in 23 of a possible 33 games − with 21 starts − over his first two seasons.

Good health has been something Tagovailoa's had, for the most part, over the last 26 games. That is, with one very large exception this season.

Tagovailoa missed three games earlier this season after sustaining a scary concussion in a Week 4 loss at Cincinnati, just days after leaving but then returning to a win over Buffalo. There was talk in the moment of the concussion being a season-ender, but he's returned to lead Miami to three consecutive wins heading into Sunday, completing 71-of-101 passes for 945 yards with seven touchdowns and no interceptions.

"I know he's a fighter," Browns left tackle Jedrick Wills Jr. told the Beacon Journal. "I know, (the concussion) was scary, but I think it's was more blessing than anything that nothing serious has happened. So it's a good thing for him to be back out there on his feet."

Wills, as much as any Browns player, would know about Tagovailoa the person. His 29 starts as the right tackle at Alabama coincided with the star quarterback's time in Tuscaloosa.

For Tagovailoa, a left-handed quarterback, that meant it was Wills protecting his blindside from the variety of future NFL edge rushers the Crimson Tide faced. Now, Wills will be watching from the opposite sideline as his former quarterback tries to avoid the rush from the Browns' talented edge-rush duo of Myles Garrett and Jadeveon Clowney on Sunday.

What Wills sees in his ex-teammate is the same person, the same player, just packaged in a different uniform and playing within a different scheme. It's a quarterback who has won 12 of his last 14 starts dating back to his return to the starting lineup from a finger injury in Week 11 of last season.

"I mean, honestly, I feel like he's just a little more comfortable now with his team," Wills said. "I mean, it's just probably a different scheme, whatever they have, you know, going on for their team. But you always see that leadership from him, you always see that mentality, like you'll see Tua, he's not running out of bounds, he's going and getting the first down, you know what I'm saying. Like, you can see that stuff from watching film, but it just shows that he's a leader and it shows what he fights for. He's a really good player."

A really good player who does have his share of talent around him to help him thrive. The Dolphins added one of Tagovailoa's former Alabama teammates, Jaylen Waddle, in the first round of the 2021 draft, and he's blossomed into a 47-catch, 812-yard receiver in his second season.

The capper came this past offseason, when Miami went out and acquired the speedy Tyreek Hill from the Kansas City Chiefs in a trade. Hill currently leads the league in receptions (76) and receiving yards (1,104).

Browns third-string quarterback Kellen Mond, who faced Tagovailoa twice in college while at Texas A&M, believes the Dolphins quarterback's natural ability is the base from which the success starts. However, Mond feels that Miami's moves around their franchise signal-caller over the last two years have allowed them to unlock his full potential.

"I think it's his ability to get the ball out quick allows him to be accurate," Mond told the Beacon Journal. "Obviously you see his transition and then now he's got McDaniels, which is a really good coach, comes from a good offensive mind and a lot of years and experience. So I think his ability to help Tua coming in, and, you know, play with confidence and play fast. And then when when you got guys like Tyreek Hill and a good offensive mind, it allows you to play with more confidence and be able to anticipate throws and then also get (yards after catch), so that adds up certain yards. There's a lot of things, and he's also a super-talented guy anyway."

Now, that super-talented guy will be a major part of the Browns' problem when they walk into Hard Rock Stadium on Sunday afternoon. If they can pressure Tagovailoa, they can maybe force him into mistakes, or at least disrupt his timing enough that he can't get the ball to his talented receivers enough for them to make plays.

Those, however, are things that have been easier said than done against Tagovailoa this season. That's because there's one other part of the quarterback which those who have faced him before know can set him apart.

"He's a smart player," Delpit said. "He knows where he's going with the ball. You know, his reads, he knows exactly what his reads are. We just got to make him think on his feet."

A little more than four years ago, Delpit was part of a defense that was able to do just that to Tagovailoa's college team. Now, he'll be part of a defense trying to do it to him in the NFL

Contact Chris at ceasterling@thebeaconjournal.com.

On Twitter: @ceasterlingABJ

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Jedrick Wills Jr., ex-LSU rivals know about Tua Tagovailoa's talent