Tua Tagovailoa’s dominant hand almost prevented Odell Beckham Jr. from signing with the Miami Dolphins. He is a lefty. He is not a righty.
That, for some reason, spooked the veteran wide receiver until he came to his senses.
Beckham signed with his fourth organization in nine years at the age of 31 and will slot as the third pass-catcher alongside Jaylen Waddle and Tyreek Hill.
He is coming off of a singular season with Baltimore after stops of various length in Los Angeles, Cleveland and New York.Although Beckham has not eclipsed the 1,000-yard mark since 2019, he has stepped up in big spots over the last few years when he is fully healthy. It is a low-risk, potentially high-reward signing for Miami. If he doesn’t produce, it doesn’t change much. If he does produce, that is a great weapon to add to the offense.
However, the former No. 12 overall pick almost overlooked the Dolphins because of how their quarterback throws the ball.
Tagovailoa is left-handed, which almost turned Beckham off.
I definitely was a little hesitant at first, because he’s a lefty and I think I shied away from lefties.
— Odell Beckham Jr.
And then he had an epiphany! There are multiple lefties in his life.
But now that I think about it, I’ve been throwing with Jarvis Landry since I was 15 years old. One of my trainers is left-handed.
— Odell Beckham Jr.
After getting over his irrational fear of left-handed throwers, Odell Beckham Jr. was able to see Tua Tagovailoa in a more realistic way. The tape ultimately said everything that needed to be said!
They said he just throws different. They said the accuracy and the spin, they’re like it’s not really like he’s left-handed. Just watching his film, there’s a lot of great things that he’s been doing. He did it at Alabama, did it here with the Dolphins.
Like I said, I’ve just seen an opportunity when I really watched the film, when I really sat down and didn’t look at a destination. I looked at myself in the mirror and a place for me and my career. I’ve just seen a lot of opportunity here.
— Odell Beckham Jr.
Wide receivers have said in the past that the way that the ball spins out of a lefty’s hand is different than how it spins out of the hand of a lefty. They have also said that it carries a slightly different path in the air.
Whether that is true or not, I don’t know. Beckham seems to believe that it is. Or he used to.
Hill caught 171 passes for 1,799 yards last year. Waddle caught 101 passes for 1,014 yards last year.
Even if the whole lefty vs. righty debate has validity to it, Tagovailoa clearly delivers the ball to his weapons without issue. They have no problems catching his passes. Odell Beckham Jr. will be fine.
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