Tua Tagovailoa, the Miami Dolphins quarterback, led the NFL in passing yards with 4,624 during the 2023 season. He also had career highs of 29 touchdown passes and 69.3 percent completion rate.
Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel claimed the former Alabama All-American’s statistical improvement can be attributed to repetitions.
After Tagovailoa was named Miami’s starting quarterback in the seventh game of his rookie season, the Dolphins had to start another quarterback in 11 of their following 44 games. However, in 2023, Tagovailoa started all 18 games for Miami and took 329 more snaps than in any of his previous three seasons.
“He had more reps than he’s ever had in his career because he played the full season,” McDaniel said at a press conference at the NFL Scouting Combine on Tuesday. “There are numerous possible outcomes in football. You can also control a number of things. I believe that one of the best instances of taking control of your career is what Tua was able to achieve via training and being able to experience everything — I mean, shoot, he experienced a playoff game for the first time in his career.
“That was afforded to him because he was able to lead the team week in and week out. These are things that weren’t necessarily assumed he was capable of doing, but like most things Tua has done in his career, he’s recognized that and proved doubters wrong.”
Tagovailoa helmed the offense that gained the most yards in the NFL in the 2023 season, and the Dolphins also led the AFC in points.
McDaniel said he’s working toward making Tagovailoa and the Miami offense even more potent in 2024.
“I look at every offseason, every year’s offense, as a constant evolution to your players and to what defenses are doing,” McDaniel said. “I’m never going to copy and paste and be like: This is what we did in 2023, and let’s work off of that. You’re ultimately trying to create some uncertainty and indecision with offensive scheme. Inherent in that is your constant evolution. I’m not really ever gloating on any successes of past. You’re more: What are we going to do with this set of players? We’re going to have some guys that are going to be in Year 3, some guys in Year 2 and some new guys. But, ultimately, what’s the best thing to serve them? And that’s naturally evolving.
“There has never been an offensive year that I can recall where we remained precisely the same, especially since I began here in 2022. There will be interesting things that we do differently, exciting things from which we will evolve, and exciting things that will build on the success of the first two years.”
Tagovailoa will remain with the Dolphins for at least one more season, and McDaniel “absolutely” hopes something is done this offseason to keep him beyond 2024.
Tagovailoa signed a four-year, $30.275 million contract with the Dolphins after being selected fifth in the 2020 NFL Draft out of Alabama. It had a team option for a fifth season, as do all rookie contracts for first-round selection picks.
The Dolphins exercised their option on March 20, 2023, which guaranteed Tagovailoa a $23.171 million salary for the 2024 season.
However, he is not required to participate under his fifth-year option. Miami may sign the quarterback to a long-term contract extension this offseason.
“I think one of the cool things in this organization is how communicative and how well I work with (general manager) Chris Grier,” McDaniel said, “as well as how I can separate what my job is and what his job is and how we move forward. I’m very encouraged. Both Tua’s representation and our organization are hard at work. Those timelines are impossible to predict, and my main concern this offseason has been communicating what Tua needs from his head coach and his offensive coaching staff, which is: What things can we identify to continue the progression of your game the same way that we have since Day 1?
“My conviction in Tua has been great since day one. It’s stronger than it was the first day I met him, and it’s because of that relationship, on which I’m focused, which is to continue to provide guidance so he can continue to grow his game as he has since the moment I started talking to him.”
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