MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — Tua Tagovailoa shredded the Miami Dolphins‘ defense in Day 2 of the team’s mandatory minicamp Wednesday, completing all but one of his passes in 7-on-7 and team drills. In doing so, he made his coach, Mike McDaniel, look good.
An hour earlier, McDaniel told reporters that Tagovailoa has been “as consistent as anybody [on the team], day in, day out.”
And in the limited opportunities local media have had to watch him practice, that checks out. Tua’s in firm control of McDaniel’s offense in Year 2 and is poised for an excellent 2023 (health willing).
Miami Dolphins Practice Report: Tua Tagovailoa Talks Helmet Cam
The Dolphins are doing everything possible to ensure Tagovailoa takes that next step. They put him in jiu-jitsu to teach him how to fall (and avoid concussions). They put him in the weight room (he looks thicker than at any point in his career). And they slapped a video camera on his helmet to record every move — and utterance — he makes.
On Wednesday, Tagovailoa was asked for the first time about the team’s new surveillance equipment — and the reviews weren’t all glowing.
Tagovailoa’s response to a question from PFN:
“You think of the integrity of the huddle, like, ‘Man, do I really want, you know, the coaches to hear what I’m saying to the guys?’ Because sometimes you might not like a play, and you go into it, and it’s like, you know, you tell the guys how you feel, but you basically tell the guy, ‘Hey, I’m skipping this progression to come to you, so you better be there.’
“Well, it has its good, and it has its bad. That was like one of the things that we felt wasn’t as good, but a lot of the cool things that you can do with that is, you know, like it gives audio for a lot of the new guys so that they can listen to the play over and over and over from the guy giving the play and then they can listen to the cadence. So when they go off from OTAs, it will be good for them to just listen to the cadence over and over and over, you know, that’s something that’s been big this offseason for us is operation.”
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McDaniel acknowledged that giving the coaches a set of eyes in ears in the huddle was a motivating factor. But it wasn’t the only motivation.
“He’s seen it live and he has, he has a very strong recall in what he sees and is able to communicate to coaches,” McDaniel said. “So it’s more for coaches to see exactly what he’s seeing.
“… I’m not sure if you guys have noticed or not. I’m never in the huddle. Now I am. There’s a lot that goes on with that if you don’t. But how you communicate to your teammates, all of that’s available now. I think he does get some enjoyment from like, ‘See coach [Darrell] Bevell, this is kind of hard to see.’ But like he’s at the stage of his game where he can, he already knows what he’s seeing, and he’s able to articulate it well enough to, now he can, we just found out how honest he is, which is a great thing.”
More Miami Dolphins Practice Observations
- Tagovailoa wasn’t the only quarterback to shine Wednesday. Backup Skylar Thompson, for the second straight year, has the livest arm in camp and showed it off with a number of accurate deep throws, including one to Daewood Davis that would have been a 70-yard touchdown in a game.
- So make no mistake: There’s a true competition for the No. 2 job between Thompson and Mike White, who threw a pick to Justin Bethel Wednesday but later completed a deep crosser to Erik Ezukanma later in practice.
- Dolphins who did not practice at all Wednesday: Jaelan Phillips, Elijah Campbell, Brandon Jones, Nik Needham, Channing Tindall, Malik Reed, Connor Williams, Terron Armstead, Geron Christian, Cedric Ogbuehi, and Jaylen Twyman.