I'd feel better about Tua Tagovailoa if he had a better arm. But he could enjoy success at the absolute highest level, being included among the best ever, and his arm strength and overall velocity would not be unprecedented for that. There's nothing disqualifying about his arm.
I think it's actually similar to Easton Stick's from a year ago. Both players can get up to the pro level velocity, but they've got to grind their toes, lock and get out over that front leg in order to hit the pro caliber fast ball. Other guys just don't have to go through that much trouble in order to drive the ball that fast. Mason Fine is a little bit like this as well. Keep him in the pocket, let him grind his toes, and he generates pro velocity at mid-range.
But for all of the above, I think the more negative factors you add to the throw, whether it's pressure coming at the guy's feet so he can't quite follow through the way he'd like, throwing on the move, or just pure distance, you've got a steeper decline in velocity.
There are clearly going to be throws in Justin Herbert's and Jordan Love's wheelhouse that are not there for Tua Tagovailoa. Or Josh Allen's for that matter. I'm comfortable with that.
What I get slightly less comfortable with is this throw...
Jordan Love can flick that ball off 90+ feet through the air without his feet under him, not even a good body angle and that ball cruises in there at 54-56 mph. Hardly looked like he was even trying. It's really an incredible thing. And I don't need a Tua Tagovailoa to be able to do it as outstandingly as that.
But is that 90-91 foot throw at a dead run in his wheelhouse at all? Setting aside the ridonkulous velocity Jordan Love can get on it, is this a throw Tua Tagovailoa would try and execute? Because I feel like we're reaching the borderline of something that needs to be in a young quarterback's toolkit in order to survive his early years in the NFL.
