Tua Tagovailoa – July 27, 2022
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Wednesday, July 27, 2022
QB Tua Tagovailoa
(How did it feel to be back?) – “It was good. It was good to be back with the guys. It really started from yesterday. Being able to see the guys, we were able to see some new additions in our locker room with games that are competitive. We’ve got a little ping-pong set in the locker room. We’ve got some darts. We’ve got cornhole. And they also have a half basketball court – shooting only because obviously we don’t want guys getting hurt. But I think it’s really cool as far as the bonding time with one another throughout this training camp.”
(Whose got the best shot on this team?) – “I’m not too sure. They say the receivers are the best shooters on the team, but I don’t know. They haven’t seen the quarterbacks shoot. (laughter)”
(Whose face of these guys goes on the dart board first?) – “(laughter) Well, I haven’t seen too many guys play on the dart board, so that has to say something about our team. I don’t know if we’re a good dart board team. (laughter)”
(Coach said that he wants you to be less hard on yourself sometimes … Can you describe what that means for you? Has that always been a trait of yours?) – “Yeah, I would say being hard on myself has always been a trait. I think for any competitor, that’s the way we’ve grown to become as professional athletes. I think everyone is hard on themselves at a certain extent. For me, I know my capabilities, so when I’m not playing up to it or living up to it, it gets frustrating. I think everyone on the team feels the same way when they don’t do their job the way they are supposed to do it, because overall it either benefits the team or it doesn’t.”
(T Terron Armstead mentioned that they don’t put pressure on you. But do you feel pressure on yourself? Do you put pressure on yourself?) – “I would say I never put pressure on myself, but it comes with the position. Pressure is always there playing this position and playing in the NFL. I think for any professional athlete, everyone can attest that it’s unadded pressure. We put that pressure on ourselves to compete every day to be our best, to do things the right way, and to try to do things the right way consistently.”
(How would you assess your first practice?) – “With what (Head) Coach Mike (McDaniel) said, I’m always hard on myself. (laughter) I will never say I had the best practice or it was a great practice. I think overall, it was a good first day of practice. Obviously there are things that we can work on. But it’s the best when you get to come back, you get to get back out on the field, throw to the guys, see coverage again, get back into the groove of things. I think once you get back into the rhythm, that’s when things start to click on both sides of the ball.”
(We heard Head Coach Mike McDaniel say he was impressed with the attitude and energy of people coming back from summer break. What have you noticed about that mentality coming off of the long break?) – “I think everyone is excited but I think one thing not to be lost in translation is a lot of guys were working throughout the offseason. I’m not one on social media, but coach had a presentation he shared with us yesterday. He took a screenshot of everyone that posted their workouts. He showed all of them and it was dang near half the team. I wasn’t on there because I don’t take pictures enough to post the on my social media. (laughter)”
(You couldn’t lift one from your trainer?) – (laughter)
(Between your trainer and WR Tyreek Hill, you were getting plenty of social media love?) – “I think it’s more Tyreek from what I hear. (laughter)”
(Coach talked about your role as a leader on this team. How would you feel about captaincy this year? How would you feel about being a team captain?) – “I think when it comes down to it, whether I go up to speak on behalf of me wanting to be a captain, or the team just voting and there are just candidates, I think it comes with my position to always be a leader. For me, I’ve always said I’m not the kind of person to get in front of people and scream and lead in that way. But I try to lead with my actions and try to lead in a way that helps our team get better. That’s by building relationships with the guys. It also helps when we’re able to compete in ping pong and cornhole and all of these other games that we have in there.”
(What’s it like getting the public support from WR Tyreek Hill? He has been all over the place blowing you up.) – “It’s cool. Tyreek is someone that has established himself well in this league and to have the support from him means a lot. I’m glad to have him as my teammate.”
(With WR Jaylen Waddle this offseason, have you seen any growth or have things picked up things playing next to him so far?) – “Jaylen playing next to Tyreek?”
(Yes.) – “Well, I think all of the guys picked up on something little form every person that has come through the building with us. Tyreek is not one to think he knows it all. Guys that are way younger than him, he takes advice from them and he asks them questions, and I think that’s cool. He creates that atmosphere for every receiver in the room that you’re never too good to not take coaching from even your guys.”
(On the ball up the sideline to WR Tyreek Hill at practice today, it looked like the ball came out pretty early on that. How much confidence can you get from a guy that can win so early, and how much does it help you anticipate earlier in your progression?) – “I think our throws are always dependent on the coverage. It was man. They tried to spin the coverage running – I think it was some kind of lurk coverage. We spotted it and I knew Tyreek was one-on-one outside and I gave him an opportunity and he made the play.”
(What is it like having the competition with QB Teddy Bridgewater out there? What is it like having him in the quarterback room?) – “I think it’s amazing having Teddy. I’ve been very fortunate to have guys that are older than me, more experienced than me in the room. My first year with ‘Fitz’ (Ryan Fitzpatrick), my second year with Jacoby Brissett, and now my third year I get someone who is relatively close friends with Jacoby in Teddy. I think it’s cool. You can learn anything from everyone at anything. It’s been cool to have Teddy.”
(When you hear WR Tyreek Hill say thing things or word gets back to you, are you like ‘this again?’ Or ‘what did he say now?’ What are you feeling the reaction to when you hear things he says about you positively?) – “I would say that’s just Tyreek’s personality. He’s going to speak how he feels at that very moment. He just believes what he says every time. If he feels he’s the best at this, he’s going to let you know out there on the field. If he feels someone is talking too much and he wants to go against them, he’s going to let them know what he’s going to do to them. That’s just his personality. I think it’s fun to have that kind of personality on the team. For me, again, it’s awesome to have that kind of support from someone like that.”
(We know everyone faces adversity. Head Coach Mike McDaniel said before this that he’s shared some of his experiences with adversity throughout his career with you guys. What do those exchanges mean to you as far as development for you guys?) – “With those kind of conversations, I think it’s best to keep them private. I never want to share anything that I feel coach wouldn’t want out. I think that’s probably for him to share. But I think everyone has their own motive for playing this sport. A lot of us grew up loving this sport, a lot of us grew up playing it since we were little. But a lot of us have families that we’ve got to take care of and we use this sport as an avenue to help us for after football.”
(How new does all of this feel this training camp? The new offense, the new teammates? I know there’s new teammates every year but there’s a lot.) – “I think every year feels like a new year. Football season never feels like it ends. If it’s the offseason, you’re training. Even if you don’t want to train, you’ve got to go do something – paddleboard or play something to keep active. To me, every season feels like a new season.”
(What kind of foundation, as you guys are picking up this new offense, did spring practice do for you guys to start at in training camp?) – “I think it set a really good foundation. It helped that a lot of the guys showed up to our OTAs. We got to really work on things that out here probably wouldn’t look as good if guys didn’t come out to OTAs. A lot of the timing, just figuring out the offense and a lot of the intricacies and details that Mike (McDaniel) wants us to work on and understand. We got to do that throughout this offseason and we’re looking forward to all of that showing throughout this training camp and the season.”
(Expectations have been so high for you at every point in your athletic career. Pee Wee, high school, drafted into the NFL. Now it seems that maybe more than ever there are people in the media, coaches, executives, who are questioning your ceiling, even your ability. How do you process that? How do you feel about that? How much of that is a change for you?) – “I don’t know any of those guys. If that’s what they have to say, then good for them. That’s probably a good thing for them to say to draw people for clickbait or whatever that is. To me, if I can’t hear you, then you’re not that important to me. If you’re in my circle and I can hear you and what you’re saying, then obviously you have to be extremely important to me. If I can’t hear it, then it’s probably not important.”
