Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa is entering a critical third season with improved talent around him.
Not only did Miami trade for receiver Tyreek Hill, but the club also improved its offensive line with players like Terron Armstead and Connor Williams.
Moreover, the Dolphins hired Mike McDaniel to bring in a quarterback-friendly system for the team’s offense. McDaniel’s changes also extend to the meeting rooms, as Tagovailoa said this week that part of why he feels comfortable in the new scheme is the open communication he has with his new head coach.
“I would say I’m comfortable [in the offense],” Tagovailoa said in his Wednesday press conference. “But that doesn’t mean that we take off days with not studying, not continuing to talk to the guys, not continuing to come up here on an off day [to] talk to the coaches about some of the things we see.
“I think that’s the cool thing this year, too, is we have a lot of open conversations with our quarterback room, with the head coach, with the receivers. And it’s really dependent on what we like in the quarterback room. If a route is drawn a certain way and that’s how Mike has been running it for 17 years and we say, you know, through our experiences the past two years — just giving an example, I like this play ran this way, I feel more comfortable with this play ran that way. I mean, without hesitation, he’s going to do that to the liking of our room.”
McDaniel’s flexibility and willingness to tailor the scheme to what the players like should be an asset for the Dolphins for as long as he’s the team’s head coach. Given that McDaniel’s previous job was San Francisco’s offensive coordinator, there’s plenty of evidence that his playbook will work in Miami. But tweaking it to Tagovailoa’s specifications could help the quarterback solidify himself as a long-term option in South Florida.