With quarterback Tua Tagovaila’s varying practice schedule as he seeks a new contract, Mike White has been the beneficiary of the extra reps.
Tagovailoa did not participate in any of Thursday’s practice after sitting out 11-on-11 drills in Wednesday’s session.
In his second year with his hometown Dolphins, White is ready for any and all of the QB1 reps.
“It’s kind of a fluid thing that they handle, and we kind of just go with the flow,” White said on Thursday, via David Funeros of the South Florida Sun Sentinel. “It’s part of the job description as a backup quarterback.”
White added it’s nice to get the snaps this time of year because he knows they’ll be fewer and far beween once the games count.
“Come season time, QB1 gets all reps, as it should be because he needs to be ready to go,” White said. “It’s nice to throw to those guys and work with the [No.] 1 O-line and get those kind of reps. I’m going to take advantage of it while I can, and at the same time, hope that Tua gets what he needs to get done to come back and start hanging out with us.”
Even with Tagovailoa’s so-called fluid practice schedule, White said the quarterback is engaged with everything that’s going on.
“Nothing changes. I know he hasn’t changed a bit,” White said. “You couldn’t tell he was going through what he’s going through. He’s the same guy in the locker room. No matter what, he’s still a leader. He’s still around, vocal. He hasn’t gone into the shadows. Same old Tua.
“That makes it easier, and I can appreciate that. Because he’s going through something that, obviously, I have no idea what it’s like. Not a ton of us do. The fact that we can count on him to be the same guy every day kind of speaks wonders to who he is as a leader, and it’s going to help the team in the long run.”