Dolphins' Tua Tagovailoa debuts new look (but does he look like Drake?)
MIAMI GARDENS — When Tua Tagovailoa showed up for his media session Wednesday, he wasn’t wearing a helmet, so he had to know the first question wouldn’t be about football.
“The hair?” he said, as if he needed to confirm an inquiry about his new cornrows.
“Yeah, got it done last week,” he said. “So it’s been in for a week and a couple of days. It was my call. My hair was outrageous. So I thought if I didn’t braid it or it wasn’t long enough that I’d just cut it, so I thought I’d just get it braided.”
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Almost immediately, social media blew up, with some saying the Dolphins’ quarterback now resembled Canadian rapper Drake.
“Don’t show that to my wife,” Tagovailoa said.
Tagovailoa was asked if Allen Iverson inspired his look.
“No A.I. inspiration,” he said. “But dude’s a baller. I’ve got a lot of respect for him. It was just one of those things where my hair was just wild.”
Tagovailoa tipped off some teammates, perhaps to soften the shock when he reappeared after the bye. That approach had only half of the desired effect.
“I love it,” linebacker Bradley Chubb said. “He told me he was going to do it, but I didn’t believe him. And then, you know, he came in the next day with the cornrows.”
Tagovailoa promised to get the braids redone in time for Sunday’s game against the Las Vegas Raiders, although NFL rules still require him to wear a helmet.
The only loose end was clarifying the whole Drake thing, which Tagovailoa isn’t buying.
“Drake?” Tagovailoa said. “I don’t know if I look like Drake. Drake?”
Dolphins reporter Hal Habib can be reached at hhabib@pbpost.com. Follow him on social media @gunnerhal.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Dolphins' Tua Tagovailoa debuts new look (but does he look like Drake?)
