Completely agree. And it’s not just Russ.
Tom Brady, Ben Roethlisberger, Russell Wilson, Drew Brees, Josh Allen, Phillip Rivers, Eli Manning—all these guys were game managers averaging well under 250 yards per game passing for multiple years early in their career before breaking out and becoming Hall of Fame caliber gunslingers spreading the ball around.
The Dan Marino’s and Aaron Rodgers’s and Patrick Mahomes’s of the world are few and far between even amongst elite QBs. Lots of elite QBs take years to progress from game manager dinking and dunking their way to wins to centerpiece of the offense throwing the ball all over the field for 300 yards a game.
Tua is 23 years old and winning meaningful games behind a young, crappy offensive line with no real rushing attack. If he can keep doing that until he’s 25 or 26 with three-plus years of game experience and a good offensive line, he may well be ready to be a superstar chucking the ball all over the field at that point.
Patience is the name of the game so long as we’re winning. Build the team around him, keep stacking up Ws, and let’s see whether Tua’s moving in the right or wrong direction in 8 games, then 16 games, then 24 games.
If you’re waiting on a 23 year old QB who’ll play like an All Pro, we’re going to be waiting a long, long, long time. For all the Justin Herbert love, he averaged fewer yards per attempt than Tua yesterday and nearly lost to Taylor Heinicke.