Where Dolphins’ Tagovailoa stands heading into summer break. And a warning from analysts
The Dolphins begin summer vacation Friday knowing that Tua Tagovailoa is in a better place physically and has a firmer grasp of the offense than a year ago.
And they can take comfort in this, too: He proved this week that he possesses the mental fortitude and the skill to shake off a five-interception practice and perform at a high level a day later.
Tagovailoa followed Tuesday’s turnoverfest with six completions of 20 or more yards on Wednesday — including a 40-yard touchdown pass to Jaylen Waddle and a deep completion to Jakeem Grant — and just as importantly, not a single interception.
“He’s made some improvement over the past two days and the course of the offseason,” coach Brian Flores said Thursday, as the team wrapped up its mandatory minicamp with a day of meetings, a conditioning test and a tour of the Dolphins’ new practice facility at Hard Rock Stadium.
“We talked at the end of the season about a variety of things we felt like he could get better at — from a training standpoint, from a command of the offense standpoint, from a reads and throwing mechanics standpoint. And he’s really worked on all of them and made some improvements.”
Physically, there appears to be more zip on his passes, a result of having a stronger base, 19 months removed from hip surgery.
Mentally, he seems to feel more comfortable with the offense, partly because he has had an offseason to work in person with coaches and teammates, unlike last season.
His trainer Nick Hicks, who doesn’t work for the Dolphins, has “helped me to get better with my strength,” Tagovailoa said. “But I think a lot of the things outside of that are going to be the mental aspect of the game.”
Offensive lineman Jesse Davis said Thursday that Tagovailoa “is showing great leadership. He’s in control of the huddle. He knows what he’s doing. He’s done a great job with it.”
The only negative on Wednesday, according to a pool report: During one of the goal-line drills, Tagovailoa went 0 for 3 and was holding the ball too long instead of throwing in anticipation of where his receivers would be.
Tagovailoa hopes that working with his revamped supporting cast in workouts the past few months — and in August — will change that.
“It’s really good to be able to throw to all of these guys and get good timing with full-speed routes, communicating on what they see within the defense and how we’re going to run our routes,” he said.
Unlike some pundits with national TV platforms, Tagovailoa didn’t seem concerned about Tuesday’s five interceptions.
“I was just trying to be aggressive and push the ball down field,” he said. “Obviously you want to be smart. But if there is a time to make mistakes, now is the time.”
As for those pundits, at least 25 minutes of network television time, on at least four national programs, were allocated to Tagovailoa’s minicamp interceptions this week, with reaction running the gamut.
ESPN’s Dan Orlovsky made an interesting point: “I want him to be more aggressive downfield — they got Will Fuller, drafted Jaylen Waddle — but it’s important for the coaches down in Miami to remember what kind of player Tua is,” Orlovsky said.
“He is not a three-point shooter. He is a kill-you-with-the-midrange two-point game guy. And while everybody wants him to push the ball to those speedsters downfield, and this is the time to test that out, let’s not make him something he’s not — a big, powerful-armed guy. He is a decisive, accurate, pick-you-apart type of quarterback.“
ESPN analyst and former Dolphins executive Mike Tannenbaum, noting Tagovailoa threw a couple of those interceptions in bad weather and that he doesn’t know what was asked of him in practice, said: “I’m not panicking. I am concerned because when he came out [of Alabama], he is short, he is slow and he’s coming off major hip surgery. He can have a really good, representative career, but he’s going to have to be accurate. He’s going to need to have great anticipation.
“I wouldn’t put too much into one day in June, but I would be concerned. They signed Jacoby Brissett and we saw last year Brian Flores was not scared to make a change if necessary.”
ESPN’s Louis Riddick noted that “Tua is one of the types of players that’s best when his mind is free and really utilizing his athletic ability and things are simple for him and they’re not giving him too much at the line of scrimmage. We don’t know the story behind every one of those [five] interceptions. You do want to see that kind of thing taper off as we get in August and preseason games.”
Both Pro Football Focus and an NFL Network studio show identified Tagovailoa as the player under the most pressure this season.
“The man, the person, the leader, I love Tua,” CBS/NFL Network analyst Nate Burleson said.
“As far as him being the franchise quarterback who can dominate for... 17 games, we’re going to wait and see. He didn’t blow our socks off in his rookie season. Coming out and throwing five interceptions, I’m not mad at it. I wanted Tua to throw more balls in small windows and see if he can fit it into those gaps. That’s what Ryan Fitzpatrick is.”
And speaking of Fitzpatrick, Tagovailoa expressed appreciation this week for “the impact that he’s had within my first year. The things I can take from him are going to be very big this upcoming year. I’m actually very happy that he has an opportunity to go to Washington and compete.”
One big takeaway from Tagovailoa’s first genuine NFL offseason: It’s clear he’s driven to improve — from organizing informal workouts with his teammates, to going home and studying film after several hours of physical training, according to Hicks.
“I don’t like feeling the losses,” he said of what motivates him. “Obviously we want to win. That’s why I harp on putting all of that pressure on myself.”
THRESHOLD REACHED
The Dolphins have passed the 85 percent vaccination threshold for players, a source confirmed. That’s an important achievement, because it greatly reduces the chance of games being missed by Dolphins players due to COVID protocols this season.
This story was originally published June 17, 2021 at 12:17 PM.
