Quarterback Tua Tagovailoa is at Dolphins training camp, but it doesn’t sound like he’s going to be a full participant in practice right off the bat.
Tagovailoa is in the market for a contract extension and players in that situation sometimes hold in at camp by doing limited or no work despite reporting to camp. Packers quarterback Jordan Love won’t be practicing, for example, but head coach Mike McDaniel indicated at a Wednesday press conference that Tagovailoa will be doing some work once the team gets on the field.
“It’s important to acknowledge that Tua is in the midst of a contract negotiation,” McDaniel said. “That’s important to him and the football team. That being said, we communicate very well and it’s very fluid. We’re taking it day by day. Today, I’m expecting it to be kind of like OTAs and we’ll move on from there.”
Tagovailoa was in and out of OTAs this spring, which obviously doesn’t work as well in a training camp setting but McDaniel said he has “no concerns about distractions” as the contract situation plays out. He also said he has no concerns that the lack of a deal creating a perception that the team is sending a message that they have concerns about Tagovailoa being the man for the long term.
Others are not as convinced of the team’s commitment to the quarterback and that will remain the case until a deal is done.