Tua Tagovailoa has finally decided to wear No. 1 for the Miami Dolphins, and Alabama fans can now finally purchase his NFL jersey.
Alabama football fans are always wanting to support former players as they begin their careers in the NFL. This includes an annual tradition of seeing what jersey numbers they will wear on their new teams. Some players are lucky enough to wear their college numbers in the NFL, but that is rarely the case. Once the Miami Dolphins drafted Tua Tagovailoa, we knew he would have to choose a new number. After over a week, Tua has finally made his decision. Tagovailoa will be wearing No. 1 for the Miami Dolphins, as announced on his Twitter.
https://twitter.com/Tua/status/1257824536583483393?s=20
Tua will be the first quarterback in Miami Dolphins history to wear this jersey number, so he gets to blaze his own trail as he starts his NFL career. He also makes a very short list of quarterbacks in general to wear this number. In recent memory, only Kyler Murray and Cam Newton come to mind.
There is no doubt that this will be one of the highest grossing rookie jerseys. Dolphins fans have dreamed of having a star quarterback save the franchise since they almost landed Drew Brees. Add that with Tide fans buying his jersey to support the rookie and Hawaii residents who have followed Tua along the way, and you have quite the target market. Heck, Tua’s family alone is big enough to get him in the top ten.
Out of all of his options, this is probably the cleanest jersey number he could get. Josh Rosen took No. 3, 10 looks clunky, and 13 is retired in honor of Dan Marino. His other options included No. 5 and No. 11, but I prefer this for Tagovailoa. It’s sleek, nice in a Miami jersey, and will be likable enough for fans to purchase. It’s safe to say that almost every Tua Tagovailoa fan would have considered buying his jersey in the first place, but this number will tip the scale for a lot of them.
At the end of the day, it’s just a jersey number. Tua’s success will not ride on the shoulders of the number on his back. It will have to do with Tua’s talent, work ethic, and leadership on and off of the field.