The Tua revelation that’s significant, and something Flores really appreciates with him
A six-pack of Miami Dolphins notes on a Wednesday:
▪ The Dolphins like and appreciate that Tua Tagovailoa arranged workouts with his offensive weapons at least eight times a month so far this offseason.
“He had a group of receivers that were meeting at I don’t know what field somewhere, but twice a week,” Dolphins coach Brian Flores said. “They were throwing routes, building that timing, building that rapport, building that chemistry.”
Tagovailoa said doing this was a clear-cut decision.
“Aside from visiting family back in Hawaii, I thought it was a very easy decision to stay here and train,” he said. “I had the opportunity to kind of gather a group of guys — receivers and gather some of the linemen as well — to go over some cadences at the line of scrimmage, what it will sound like this year and kind of have that operation going at the line of scrimmage with the guys.
“I wouldn’t be able to throw to my guys too if I was all the way in Hawaii. So we’re working on the timing and all of those things that you don’t just wake up and do, as ‘Flo’ would say.”
Tagovailoa loves his augmented cast of receivers, though he said nothing at all to disparage last year’s group. But he didn’t want to single out prominent newcomers Will Fuller and Jaylen Waddle.
“I think when you look at all of our guys that we have, we have a variety,” he said. “We have guys that can make catches in double coverage, guys that can catch the ball on a swing route and make a man miss, guys that can just flat out outrun guys and you just have to throw it to them and get it to them. I’m very excited to see what we have when it is time to go full speed.”
▪ The most significant revelation from Tagovailoa on Wednesday was that his hip “feels 10 times better than it did last year.”
A stronger hip — now 18 months removed from surgery — should help his throwing mechanics and the power he can generate in his throws.
His strength work this offseason “was full body. I wanted to get stronger with my upper body, my shoulders, triceps, biceps, my core. Then I guess you could say the focus, if we had a leg day, would really be the glutes to kind of help support the hip... I feel really confident coming into this second year after that injury two years ago.
“I just think that coming into this year, throwing it isn’t as much arm this year as it was last year. It’s kind of everything like using my legs, using my core and then the arms just following. Very similar to golf.”
▪ Random Tagovailoa notes: He said he’s not sure if he will keep his new beard: “Yeah, my mom and my grandmother have been telling me to shave it. My dad likes it.”...
How does local viewership for Tagovailoa compare with Heat and Panthers playoff viewership?
During Tagovailoa’s debut (very late in a 24-0 win against the Jets in October), 12.3 percent of Miami-Fort Lauderdale market homes were tuned in — highest of the game, which averaged a 10.3 locally.
By contrast, the combined local ratings for the Heat playoff games have been well under half that: 4.9 combined Bally/ESPN rating for Game 1 of Heat-Bucks, 4.8 combined TNT/Bally rating for Game 2.
But the Heat has more than tripled the audience of Panthers playoff games; Game 5 on Monday — competing with the Heat — drew a combined 1.5 local rating between Bally Sports Florida and CNBC.
▪ Former Syracuse cornerback Trill Williams — along with ex-Middle Tennessee State offensive lineman Robert Jones — are probably the most highly regarded of the Dolphins’ undrafted rookies.
Williams, claimed off waivers from New Orleans when he failed a physical, was considered a potential fourth-to-sixth-round pick by some. The Saints wanted to re-sign him but Miami pounced.
“With Trill, what he brings on his tape coming out of Syracuse is he was a run-and-hit guy,” cornerbacks coach Charles Burks said. “He was a guy that was very physical on his tape. He played some corner and he played some safety, so again in our system, we like guys who are versatile and can do a lot of things.”
The Dolphins have a handful of young undrafted corners with no or very little NFL experience — Williams, Tino Ellis, Javaris Davis, Terrell Bonds and Jaytlin Askew — and hope at least one emerges as Nik Needham did two years ago.
“They’re working diligently,” Burks said. “They’re doing a good job asking a lot of questions. It’s been a joy to work with them. I’m very excited to see where their development will take them because you never know. We can project all we want but we’ve got to get on the grass and we’ve got to practice.”
▪ The Dolphins are content with their defensive tackle group of Christian Wilkins, Raekwon Davis and Zach Sieler, with John Jenkins and Benito Jones headlining the group of others competing for roster spots.
“You want guys that are versatile, that are smart, that can handle a lot [and] I think ultimately we now have that,” defensive line coach Austin Clark said.
Clark, who moved from outside linebacker coach to defensive line coach to replace Marion Hobby (who’s now with Cincinnati), has a simple message for what he wants from his group: “heart, effort, dedication, stopping the freaking run, and ultimately having a team-rush mentality.”
Incidentally, though the Dolphins brought in Melvin Ingram for a visit, they haven’t — to this point — pursued the defensive end who was most productive in 2020: Colts free agent Justin Houston, who had eight sacks last season.
▪ This just in: Sieler is no longer living in an RV. “I got a fiancée now,” he said. “I got to get moving into real life. She didn’t make me [move]. She was great about it. She fully supported me; but two big dogs and her, it wasn’t working so much.”
Sieler, incidentally, said this about Wilkins on Wednesday: “He’s definitely matured. He’s matured on the field, but he’s still a kid at heart. I think everyone sees that. He’s really good at reading the backfield sets. He’s always been the next level of learning ‘what combos can I get in this front?’”
Here was my and Adam Beasley’s report on the first full practice open to media since last August and who was in attendance.
Here’s my Wednesday piece on what TV analysts are saying about the Heat, including Shaquille O’Neal’s pointed message to Bam Adebayo and Jimmy Butler and Charles Barkley’s taboo statement.
Here’s my Wednesday piece with Anthony Chiang on Erik Spoelstra’s thinking with playing two natural bigs together.
This story was originally published May 26, 2021 at 5:51 PM.
