The Dolphins appear to be all-in on quarterback Tua Tagovailoa.
Miami posted a video to social media on Tuesday of new head coach Mike McDaniel talking to Tagovailoa from the private jet taking him to South Florida to begin his new job. McDaniel vocalized his excitement to work with the young quarterback.
“We’re going to have an extensive professional relationship, my man,” McDaniel told Tagovailoa. “One thing I know about you is you have the ambition to be great. My job is to coach you, to get all that greatness out of you. And it’s going to be fun, man. It’s going to be work, but I know you’re not afraid of that. So this is an awesome day for me and I’m damn sure going to make sure that when you look back on this day, you’re going to be like, ‘Damn, that was one of the best days of my career,’ too. OK? But I’ll earn that from you. You got me?”
McDaniel then turns to the camera and says, “Since you can’t hear him, he’s telling me how excited he is and that there’s no other coach he’d rather play for in the entire world, which I thought was nice since that’s the first time I’ve really talked to him.
“It is an unbelievable opportunity for me that I do not plan on wasting in the slightest. I can promise you that. I’m all in. You’re going to get the best out of me that you can possibly get.”
Tagovailoa completed 68 percent of his passes for 2,653 yards with 16 touchdowns and 10 interceptions in the 13 games of his second season. He also rushed for 128 yards and three touchdowns.
The Dolphins won eight of their last nine games to finish the 2021 season 9-8. But with McDaniel’s offensive scheme, the club surely hopes Tagovailoa can become its undisputed franchise quarterback going forward.