Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa has come a long way in two years. And it has happened in large part because he finally has been empowered to be himself.
Tagovailoa spoke at length to NBC’s Michael Smith about his transformation, which happened once the Dolphins hired Mike McDaniel to coach the team in 2022.
“I would describe the place I’m at right now professionally as fun and happy,” Tua told Smith. “That’s how I would explain it. Fun, because I’m able to be myself, and the guys around me are able to be themselves. We’re able to have open dialogue in a manner that’s respectful and not, ‘You have to be this way as a leader. You have to say these things as a leader to your players.’ And we’re allowed the freedom in that sense. And then just happy. You know, when you’re having fun, happiness comes along with it. And I think it’s a testament to everyone in that regard. Everyone’s having fun. You know that just the joy that we all bring to each other when things work out the way they’re supposed to when we work hard.”
Tua specifically linked the change in attitude to the arrival of McDaniel.
“I think it’s sort of intertwined more since the coming of Mike McDaniel with sort of the freedom that he’s brought to the organization in regards to people feeling the freedom of, ‘Dude, you can express yourself. You can joke.’ Like, ‘Don’t be afraid to be yourself.’ But when it is time to work, we know it’s time to work. There’s a place and time to have fun, and to me, it’s starting to intertwine with who I am at home.”
It’s no surprise that McDaniel, who is unflinchingly authentic, would encourage others to do the same.
“It shouldn’t be, ‘I have to be this one person when I go to work,’” Tua said. “Then, when I go home, I have to shut it off and be this other person. It’s good for some people to have that mindset. But allowing me to be myself all the time, I love it. I take all the thinking out of everything. Because I can just be myself.”
Tua spent too much time in prior years trying to placate his coaches. Trying to be what they expected him to be and not who he is.
“I think as I’ve grown up to play football, it’s always, you know, ‘Yes, sir. No, sir,’” Tua told Smith. “Or if you feel like talking back, it’s just a, ‘Coach me, coach,’ kind of deal. It’s like, ‘Coach me, coach.’ And as I’ve gone from high school to college, I’ve always been taught to just respect your elders, and whatever they tell you, like, that’s what you should do. . . . ‘You should get on this guy like that.’ And I’d be like, ‘Man, but that’s not how I would, would normally do it.’ So I would fight the urge of, ‘Okay, this is what he’s telling me.’ But then I know this guy doesn’t respond well to that. So like, how could I not manipulate it, but how could I make it to where I’m getting my point across and he understands it, but I’m doing it respectfully, and in the right manner?”
I would say for me, prior to that, it was almost like people-pleasing type of deal, and being like a ‘yes’ man, almost. And so with Mike being able to come down here, and allowing me to be myself, I mean, I wouldn’t even laugh at his jokes in team meetings, I was just so nervous, you know? I just wanted to get everything right. I was very tense all the time. And yeah, we could go real deep into it but, I mean, that’s what it is.”
We don’t need to go much deeper to know that Tua was not thriving in an environment with people expecting him to be someone other than who he is, especially at a time when it felt like the team was fixated on replacing him. In 2021, before the trade deadline, it was Deshaun Watson. Then, it was Tom Brady and Sean Payton. Once McDaniel arrived, he embraced Tua and urged Tua to just be Tua.
He’s now the best version of himself that we’ve ever seen.
