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Tatted, confident Tua has high hopes for Dolphins’ chances in 2023

david furones, south florida sun-sentinel
·4 min read

MIAMI GARDENS — As Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa made his highly anticipated reveal of his sleeve tattoo that goes down his right arm at Wednesday’s first practice, he enters his second training camp in coach Mike McDaniel’s offense and fourth NFL season overall with renowned confidence and hopes of delivering a winner for Miami.

That’s the effect that comes from a 2022 campaign that saw him lead the league in passer rating (105.5) and yards per attempt (8.9), plus throw for 25 touchdowns and just eight interceptions.

After the headlines going into each of Tagovailoa’s first three seasons circled around the Dolphins figuring out what they had in the former Alabama quarterback — and oftentimes shopping around for other signal-callers — that part of the equation has mostly been resolved. More of the conversation in 2023 is about how the Dolphins need to keep him on the field after two separate concussion protocol stints caused him to miss 5 1/2 games, with Miami’s offense suffering a significant drop-off when he wasn’t behind center.

“I think if, God willing, we all can stay healthy, I think this offense can do crazy things,” Tagovailoa said Wednesday following the team’s first day of drills after reporting to camp Tuesday. “I think we can be dangerous. I think we have the potential to do something really, really special for the city of Miami, to do something special for the organization, to do something special for guys on our team that don’t really have that opportunity.”

Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel equated the first season in a new offense as learning a new language. Tagovailoa had changed offensive coordinators every year going back through college with the Crimson Tide, and now he has the continuity of his offensive-minded head coach in McDaniel, offensive coordinator Frank Smith and quarterbacks coach Darrell Bevell all back for a second season with him.

“When you’re learning a foreign language, you have to translate in your head,” McDaniel said ahead of Wednesday’s drills. “Then, at some point in time, if you’re fluent enough, you can think in terms of that language. Last year, Tua was… literally speaking a foreign language and doing it at a pretty high level. This year, he owns the language.”

Said Tagovailoa: “Definitely a continuation of last year. Everyone feels a lot more comfortable, and it’s not something that we had to really strain this offseason to learn. We could sort of use our strain on other things such as getting together outside of the facility, throwing, working on route timing, things like that.”

Star receiver Tyreek Hill is noticing Tagovailoa’s greater confidence lead to next-level leadership.

“He’s more vocal,” Hill said. “That comes with confidence, obviously. I feel like the year that he had last year gave him everything that he needed to go into this year. I’m really looking forward to seeing what he’s going to do this year. I know he’s going to do very exciting things this year.”

On the practice field, Tagovailoa had an efficient day throwing the football. He completed all but three passes, two of them deflected and one a throwaway on a jailbreak blitz.

The session’s highlight came when he delivered a deep pass of roughly 40 yards to receiver Jaylen Waddle in single coverage against safety Jevon Holland. The two fought for the ball, it ricocheted up and Waddle was the one to come down with it.

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Tagovailoa reacted Wednesday to Los Angeles Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert’s big five-year, $262.5 million extension reached Tuesday.

“It’s big. Big,” Tagovailoa said. “First off, congrats to him and congrats to (Eagles quarterback) Jalen (Hurts), as well, earlier on his contract. I think it’s really good for the quarterback market. It gets me excited, gets me going.”

Herbert was taken in the same 2020 draft class as Tagovailoa — in fact, one pick later, going sixth after the Dolphins took Tagovailoa fifth. But Miami’s signal-caller said he hasn’t been involved in any contract talks with the organization beyond the fifth-year option that was picked up for the 2024 season.

“When things come, they’ll come because you either deserved it or it’s supposed to happen that way,” he said. “I’m always a person that wants to prove to myself that I deserve whatever I get. So for me, I feel like this is something that I need to work for.”

Tagovailoa’s sleeve tattoo was finally revealed after a summer where he wore long sleeves at any appearance to assure it wasn’t exposed. The Dolphins social media accounts posted a picture of him flashing it at the start of drills.

“It’s something that falls off a piece that I had earlier this year. It’s a piece that represents my first child,” Tagovailoa explained, pointing to the start of the tattoo on his shoulder and then working his way down through the tribal band. “There’s a lot of things that go on behind it, a lot of cultural significance, a lot of things that have to do with protection, guidance. Sort of things like that that we believe in the Samoan culture.”