Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa met with the media on Tuesday as the team kicks off their mandatory minicamp.
The Miami Dolphins are in the middle of their mandatory minicamp, the culminating training event for the team’s 2025 offseason training program. After this week, the team will break until the start of training camp at the end of July. Quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, who missed four games in the middle of the 2024 season with a concussion, then missed the final two games of the year with a hip injury, spoke with the media on Tuesday, talking the injuries and how to protect himself going into 2025.
“I would say it started to feel a little better more so like in February,” the Dolphins’ 2020 fifth-overall draft pick said of when he was back to being himself following the hip injury. “We know exactly what it was, but I don’t want to disclose any of that information.”
After saying there was no real concern about the injury recurring if he can better protect himself, Tagovailoa explained that he needs to focus more on the season-long battle rather than the success of any one specific play. Recognizing his own competitiveness may be a factor in the past injury issues, Tagovailoa stated, “Doing everything I can to stay available for the guys. Like I’ve said before in the past, nothing changes with that. It’s knowing when is the time to give up on a play. I would say the longevity for me to be on the field with my guys is more important than whatever that one play is. You have more quarters than there would be within just that one play I’m trying to show the guys I’m competitive and whatnot. I know they know that, but it’s a nature thing. It just comes natural to me to compete in that sense, and that’s just the thing I fight with every time.”
Asked how he knows when to give up on a play and if it dictated by time or simply by feel, Tagovailoa replied, “I think that’s why you have practice and it starts in practice. I’ve got to sort of shift my mindset of this isn’t just practice where guys can’t hit me, I’ve got to take it into a sense where if this guy is here, get the ball out. And if I’m scrambling and this guy is getting close, not to just hold on to it knowing they can hit me if it was real football. Just throw it away, or just run and just stop to signify to slide if you will, but I think it’s the transition and focus of bringing that game-like feel into practice.”
When asked about his plans for the break between minicamp and training camp, Tagovailoa stated, “Workout. Just workout. I’m going to take a week off, but outside of that I’ll just workout. Just get some throwing in with guys and we’ll get ready for training camp.”
After indicating he may head to the Bahamas for that week off, Tagovailoa stated his ultimate goal for the weeks ahead, explaining, “I’d like to spend more time with a few guys on the field, that’s for sure, so that we can get our game right to where we need it to be. The distribution of the ball becomes more evident in games. We get a lot more guys involved and I get a good feel in trusting that if this guy is not open, that I trust this guy and this guy and this guy.”
The Dolphins wind up their three days of minicamp practice on Thursday.
