Henry McKenna
AFC East Reporter
For yet one more offseason, the dialog round Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa revolves round his contract. However there’s one other recurring theme: his weight change.
Final offseason, Tua went viral for the way he’d bulked up. This offseason, it is simply the other. The quarterback has slimmed again down. It is all based on the Dolphins’ plan, even when it is unusual to see such reverse plans happen from one offseason to the subsequent.
“That was a giant 12 months this previous season for Tua, with the ability to play everything of it on the skilled degree in addition to having two years in a row with the identical offense and play caller,’ McDaniel stated when requested about Tua’s current weight reduction. “That is one thing that we instantly relate — him and I — when it comes to in search of these aggressive benefits, so I feel he recognized that as one for himself and has — I feel the outcomes converse for themselves. He is svelte.”
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The Dolphins requested Tagovailoa to bulk up final offseason after he’d suffered concussions through the 2022 season, based on a supply near the state of affairs. The thought was that extra weight would make Tua more durable to throw to the bottom, which might mitigate the kinds of rag-doll hits that led to his concussions. Throughout that 2022 offseason, Tagovailoa additionally educated in Jiu-Jitsu to coach himself to fall extra gracefully. Each the Dolphins and Tua agreed that the martial artwork was working for him in 2024, however the weight was limiting his mobility. So the Dolphins requested him to drop his weight from round 235 to 220, the place he’s now.
People round him have stated he is in the most effective form of his life. You have seen McDaniel’s characterization: “svelte.”
Tagovailoa completed the 2023 season with 4,624 passing yards, 29 touchdowns and 14 interceptions whereas finishing 68.3% of his passes. He did that with the quickest time to throw in his profession at 2.32 seconds, additionally the quickest within the NFL.
Will Tua Tagovailoa get a contract extension amid unsure Dolphins offseason?
Whereas his weight change wasn’t precisely incremental, it does sign an incremental change in what the Dolphins need from him in 2024.
As a draft prospect on the NFL mix in 2020, Tua weighed in at 217 kilos. He did not take part within the occasions, as a result of he was coping with hip surgical procedure. However he was touted as having “energetic, agile toes” whereas becoming “the mould of NFL’s new dual-threat quarterbacks.” In school, Tagovailoa might escape the pocket and improvise because the Crimson Tide made common use of bootlegs. This is not to say that, in his fifth NFL season, Tagovailoa is abruptly going to begin taking part in like Russell Wilson — and undoubtedly not like Lamar Jackson. Tagovailoa has made his cash as a pocket passer within the Dolphins offense. However maybe this transfer to a lighter weight will assist him deliver a barely extra elusive presence within the pocket.
“I feel simply being extra twitchy and elusive within the pocket. He won’t ever be a runner however [it’s about] extending performs a little bit extra,” a Dolphins supply stated. “It is a delicate stability, although, as a result of he wants to remain wholesome.”
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That is the draw back. You have heard the expression: if it ain’t broke, do not repair it. Tua’s heaviest season was, in truth, his healthiest season. He did not miss a recreation. However the Dolphins, the QB and the individuals near Tua imagine that his Jiu-Jitsu work will, certainly, maintain off extra accidents. Tagovailoa’s final documented concussion was in Dec. 2022 — and, earlier than that, Sept. 2022. Let these be the final he has to handle.
Previous to becoming a member of FOX Sports activities because the AFC East reporter, Henry McKenna spent seven years masking the Patriots for USA TODAY Sports activities Media Group and Boston Globe Media. Comply with him on Twitter at @henrycmckenna.
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