Mike McDaniel offers outline of how he'll use Tua Tagovailoa in preseason games
TAMPA — Eager for your first look at Tua Tagovailoa this year?
Good chance you're going to have to wait longer than Saturday night.
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Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel said Thursday morning that based on what he has seen of Tagovailoa in training camp, he's "encouraged" enough to be leaning toward not playing him in Saturday night's preseason opener against the Buccaneers in Tampa.
That would mean having to wait until one of the next two exhibitions, both of which are at home: Aug. 20 vs. the Raiders and Aug. 27 against Philadelphia.
"I'm encouraged about the idea of not playing him," McDaniel said before the practice. "But again, that that remains to be seen from what happens today. And again, that's not that has nothing to do with bottom line results. Offensively, it's more how he's how prepared he is at practice."
McDaniel added, "Everybody's expected to be prepared to play."
Of course, there's a difference between being prepared to play and actually playing.
Tagovailoa, like all quarterbacks, wears a red, non-contact jersey in practice. The risk of exposing him to injury in an exhibition game is what the decision comes down to. But somewhere along the line in preseason, the Dolphins almost certainly will take that risk.
"I would be surprised if he didn't (play)," McDaniel said.
Hal Habib covers the Dolphins for The Post. Help support our journalism. Subscribe today.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: McDaniel outlines plans to use Tagovailoa in preseason games
