TAMPA — Jaylen Waddle’s face lit up Wednesday when asked to assess the current state of Miami Dolphins teammate Tua Tagovailoa’s game.
“Man, y’all see it,” Waddle said moments after the Dolphins’ joint practice with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers wrapped here Wednesday.
“Day in and day out. He’s just making tremendous plays, playing with a lot of confidence, leading our guys. Man, I’m excited for him. I’m excited for the year, excited for the team and what he’s going to contribute to the team.”
Miami Dolphins QB Tua Tagovailoa’s Latest Evolution
Tagovailoa’s game has evolved for the best in each of his first two seasons with head coach Mike McDaniel.
So the expectation was Tua would spend this past NFL offseason tinkering in the lab yet again.
Tua’s most obvious difference? His body. He is noticeably lighter than he was a year ago, and McDaniel said Wednesday that it was a change Miami’s coaching staff suggested.
“He wasted no time to do what you’d hope, which is, ‘Hey, bottom line is I want to get better. I’m not happy with the results, so I’m gonna work to change them,'” McDaniel said. “And I think that’s been the whole mindset of the team, and you know, you’re led by the quarterback. So it’s very important that he is that way for himself for his production.
“But along the same lines to lead by example for what players and coaches and the whole organization need to do for us to get what we want.”
Tagovailoa has done more by leading by example. He’s led by … leading. Two Dolphins players independently said they have noticed the same change in Tua’s demeanor this summer.
“His communication,” said Waddle, who has been Tagovailoa’s teammate since their college days together at Alabama. “Really leading us out there and in the huddle. He’s kind of not as talkative when we first came in, just due to culture, and I know just being at ‘Bama with him, the standard was already set.
“So I feel like it’s something that he learned. But he’s much more talkative and really doing a good job of telling us what we want, what he wants, and just leading the guys.”
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Added Skylar Thompson, a Dolphins backup quarterback: “You hear his voice more, and I’m not saying that in a way of you didn’t hear it in the past. He’s done a great job of communicating with everybody and just telling receivers what he wants, whether it’s coming out of a route a certain way or running it a certain way or whatever, he makes it known how he wants it to be done, and guys respond well to that.
“I think that’s been really cool to see from my perspective. But Tua is Tua. That guy, from the day that I came in here and met him, he’s the same person. And I think it speaks volumes of who he is and his character and the values that he has. And it’s been super cool to be a part of the room with him and Mike and being able to be so close with those guys and grow with them through the journey. So it’s been really cool.”