Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa cleared a significant checkpoint in his career-best 2023 season: For the first time in four years, he started every regular-season game.
That was an achievement in itself, but what might be even more valuable is the confidence Tagovailoa gained in his second season playing under Mike McDaniel. As Tagovailoa explained it, he's made massive mental strides in two years under McDaniel, digging out of a confidence deficit created by his first two pro seasons, which he spent playing for former Dolphins head coach Brian Flores.
"To put it in simplest terms," Tagovailoa explained during a Monday appearance on the Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz when asked to described, "if you woke up every morning, and I told you that you suck at what you did, that you don't belong doing what you do, that you shouldn't be here, that this guy should be here, that you haven't earned this right, and then you have somebody else come in and tell you, 'Dude, you are the best fit for this. You are accurate, you are the best whatever, you are this, you are that.' How would that make you feel, listening to one or the other? You see what I'm saying?
"And then you hear it and hear it -- regardless of what it is, the good or the bad -- and you hear it more and more, you start to actually believe that. I don't care who you are. You could be the President of the United States. (If) you have a terrible person that's telling (you) things that you don't want to hear or probably shouldn't be hearing, you're gonna start to believe that about yourself. That's sort of what ended up happening. It's basically been two years of training that out of, not just me, but a couple of the guys as well that have been here since my rookie year all the way 'til now."
Tagovailoa's candor was refreshing, if not shocking when explaining how his first two years of his NFL career unfolded and impacted him mentally. On multiple occasions during his rookie season, Tagovailioa was pulled from games in favor of veteran Ryan Fitzpatrick, and he spent much of the following season dealing with reports and speculation that Miami could trade for Deshaun Watson.
Typically, players are coached well enough to avoid saying anything controversial, yet Tagovailoa didn't hide from the negative experience he had playing for Flores – who is currently the Minnesota Vikings defensive coordinator -- and how it paled in comparison to his experience with McDaniel, a coach who has empowered his quarterback to operate his innovative offense.
It helps that Tagovailoa is coming off a 2023 season in which he led the NFL with 4,624 passing yards as part of the league's most explosive offense. If ever there were a time to speak honestly without fear of backlash, it's now for Tagovailoa, who signed a four-year, $212.4 million extension in late July and returns as the leader of an offense that has many in Miami -- including owner Stephen Ross -- dreaming of a Lombardi Trophy.
He's not quite playing with house money, but Tagovailoa has never had more reason to feel confident in his abilities and his NFL future than now. Armed with such newfound freedom, Tagovailoa spoke openly on the arduous road he's traveled to this point, and about those who he apparently feels didn't help him with the difficulties of playing quarterback in the NFL.