Tyreek Hill might want to consider adding a new title to his resume: Tua Tagovailoa's hype man.
Hill assumed such a role perhaps out of necessity earlier this month when a video -- yes, that video -- went viral for the wrong reasons and put Tagovailoa on the receiving end of relentless jokes related to his arm strength. Hill fought fire with fire the next day, tweeting his own video of Tagovailoa connecting with targets at a variety of depths, and a few weeks later, Hill remains convinced he's playing with a quality quarterback.
"At first, I thought it was going to be something crazy -- the ball going all over the place, but Tua actually has probably one of the prettiest balls I've ever caught in my life," Hill said Tuesday, via ESPN. "It's very catchable. Tua is a very accurate quarterback. That's all I'm going to say."
Hill has plenty of reasons to hype up his quarterback. After receiving his own payday -- a four-year, $120 million extension -- Hill is invested in the future of the Dolphins, which largely depends on the play of their quarterback.
Tagovailoa enters year three without having confirmed his status as franchise quarterback, and Hill arrived as a much-needed playmaker for the Alabama product. Miami has equipped Tagovailoa with plenty of tools, including a receiving corps headlined by Hill, Jaylen Waddle and free-agent signing Cedrick Wilson, and even brought in an offensive-minded coach in Mike McDaniel.
Health and protection mattered as much as accuracy for Tagovailoa last season, as he was forced out of action early due to injury. Miami responded in kind this offseason, signing three-time Pro Bowl left tackle Terron Armstead and former Cowboys starting guard Connor Williams to shore up the left side of the offensive line.
Now it's about putting all of that together into a productive offense led by a quarterback who has the ability to lead a franchise on the field. And that is where the confidence plays such an essential role.
So far, so good.
"I've seen a guy that's attacking the moment, a guy that really likes to play football," McDaniel said. "You hear people describe a quarterback's instinctiveness. ... I didn't quite know what that meant. Now I have a better idea of what that meant, but I still don't have a better way to describe it besides instinctiveness.
"But you can tell the player has played the position for a long time and that he thinks about the game of football through the lens of the quarterback position. I've been very excited about his development as far as the offensive plan and being the starting quarterback for the Miami Dolphins."
After flirting with the idea of making a blockbuster move for a number of high-profile quarterbacks, the Dolphins are sticking with Tagovailoa -- for now. 2022 is his season to seize.