Tua Tagovailoa says teammates showed up ‘late’ to Dolphins’ players-only meetings
The Miami Dolphins already have enough problems.
They are 1-5. They have one of the worst run defenses in football. And they have lost four games when the score was either tied or in their favor during the fourth quarter. Now, the team apparently has issues getting its own to show up to players-only meetings.
“We have guys showing up to player-only meetings late,” Tua Tagovailoa admitted Sunday after the Dolphins’ 29-27 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers. “Guys not showing up to player-only meetings. There is a lot that goes into that. Do we have to make that mandatory? Do we not have to make that mandatory? So it’s a lot of things of that nature that we got to get cleaned up. It starts with the little things like that.”
When asked for clarification, the franchise quarterback said “late.”
Regardless of what Tagovailoa meant, the fact that his teammates have either been late or missed players-only meetings cannot be considered positive. It should, however, be noted that Tagovailoa meant player-led meetings as in the weekly gatherings where the offense and defense watches film among themselves to discuss their upcoming game plan.
In the aftermath of Tagovailoa’s comments, coach Mike McDaniel initially indicated that the quarterback appeared to address someone specific.
“It sounds like there was something on his mind with regard to the specific meetings with a couple individuals that he was trying to get corrected by direct communication,” McDaniel said, adding that “whomever he’s talking to will deliver.”
Less than 24 hours later, however, McDaniel’s perspective had changed now that he had heard the full description of Tagovailoa’s musings.
“Now that I’ve heard [Tagovailoa’s precise comments] — you guys caught me before I heard them — after a loss as a franchise quarterback, that’s not the place [to say] that,” McDaniel said Monday. “He knows that now. I honestly believe there was no ill intention. You’re talking about a misrepresentation of player-orchestrated film sessions.”
McDaniel credited Tagovaialoa for already beginning “to communicate with teammates” about his poor judgement.
“There’s a really easy way to clarify with teammates, and it’s literally telling them,” McDaniel said, adding that his quarterback did that Sunday night and into Monday morning.
And while it was unclear whether Tagovailoa had spoken to Patrick Paul, Aaron Brewer or Zach Sieler, they all agreed that certain conversations should stay in-house.
“I’m not going to sit here and critique how someone else wants to handle business,” Sieler said. “Each person has their own right to that. I know that when we’re taking care of things in the d-line room, specifically, I make sure you have one-on-ones. If it’s a real issue, you bring it up with the group, with each other. Internally, that’s how I’ve always handled my business.”
What makes Tagovailoa’s comments of particular concern was that habitual lateness led to the team’s cultural reset ahead of the 2025 season, something that involved trading away one of their best players in Jalen Ramsey. Five players reportedly “incurred half of the team’s internal fines for distractions such as being late” in 2024, according to The Athletic’s Jeff Howe. The aforementioned frequent lateness to practice and meetings, per ESPN’s Marcel Louis-Jacques, appeared indicative of “a lack of respect for McDaniel.”
A call for greater accountability among players was emphasized from the final days of the 2024 season through training camp. Defensive tackle Zach Sieler even spoke to this during locker room clean-out day in early January.
“Absolutely, yep, I think so,” Sieler replied when asked about the need for a higher standard among players. “And I think what McDaniel does a great job of is preaching the player locker room and I think it needs to come from us as players and leaders and captains as well as the staff and get everyone here and get everyone working together from Day 1 in OTAs and camp and get things taken care of from Day 1, and take care of business to start fast next year.”
McDaniel, however, noted that the meetings that Tagovailoa mentioned had nothing to do with what happened in 2024.
“Completely separate,” McDaniel said, later adding that “this was a different topic altogether.”
With 11 games still left on the schedule, the Dolphins technically aren’t technically out of the playoffs. Still, a potential postseason appearance looks to be a long shot unless the team can do the unprecedented.
This story was originally published October 12, 2025 at 6:17 PM.
