Tua Tagovailoa had a rough time at the opening practice of Miami Dolphins minicamp on Tuesday. Although it’s early in the offseason, the showing didn’t instill confidence that the young quarterback would be ready for his second year in the NFL.
In a torrential downpour, Tagovailoa threw five interceptions during the 7-on-7 and 11-on-11 portions of the workout. The 23-year-old bounced back in the latter half of the practice but not before he caused concern with his early performance.
Tagovailoa proved to be his ever-optimistic self in his media session after the workout. He took full responsibility for his mistakes, didn’t blame the horrendous weather in Miami and pointed out that June was the perfect time to learn and get better.
“We wanted to be aggressive today in the passing game . . . You want to be smart, if there’s a time to make mistakes now is the time,” Tagovailoa said, via Cameron Wolfe of ESPN.com.
“We wanted to be aggressive today in the passing game… You want to be smart, if there’s a time to make mistakes now is the time.”
Tua Tagovailoa on his rough 5-INT practice day. Not making excuses and taking responsibilities for practice mistakes.
— Cameron Wolfe (@CameronWolfe) June 15, 2021
Tagovailoa could certainly benefit from being more aggressive in 2021, now that he’s had a full offseason with the Dolphins under his belt. However, he won’t want that aggression to come with an increase in turnovers.
In his rookie year with the Dolphins, Tagovailoa showed potential but didn’t quite live up to the team’s expectations of him. The former No. 6 overall pick completed 64.1 percent of his passes for 1,814 yards, 11 touchdowns and five interceptions. He wasn’t as mobile as expected as he continued to recover from his 2019 hip injury, but still went 6-3 as a starter for Miami.
The Dolphins will have plenty of time to iron out Tagovailoa and the offense before the start of the 2021 campaign. The organization will expect him to take a leap forward this fall but shouldn’t need to hold this mid-June performance against him.
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