Tua's Tribute to Fitz and Other Thoughts

Miami Dolphins rookie quarterback Tua Tagovailoa showed his respect for Ryan Fitzpatrick not only wearing his jersey for a media session but with his words

Tua Tagovailoa once again showed off his big personality when he conducted his first Zoom media session of training camp.

It started with Tagovailoa showing up wearing Dolphins jersey with number 14, which obviously is the number worn by veteran quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick.

Tagovailoa joked that he wanted to break the ice with the media. As if he needed to do that.

When it comes to media interaction and how he comes across, Tagovailoa doesn't have a thing to worry about. He's got "it."

The wearing of the Fitzpatrick jersey had another meaning, though, that of respect. Tagovailoa and Fitzpatrick haven't known each other long, but it's clear they've hit it off.

And it's clear Tagovailoa looks up to the veteran heading into his 16th NFL season.

"To start it off with Fitz, very, very down-to-earth person," Tua said. "Very humble. I got to meet his family about two days ago and it was pretty funny because while we were on FaceTime everyone was scattered around the house. He introduced me to his kids, then his wife. He said, 'This is it. This is everyone, this is my family.' Then, lo and behold, he forgets two of them. This man really has a family.

To be a professional like that is mind-boggling how down-to-earth he is. This guy just gets it. I don’t know what it is. He just gets it. That saying goes true, it says if you want to get somewhere fast you go alone and if you want to go somewhere with purpose you bring people with you. I think Fitz has done a tremendous job of trying to shape and mold me, and Josh (Rosen) as well. It’s been pretty cool to go through that process with him."

While it certainly was nice to hear from Tua himself, it goes right along with what we wrote about recently about how Fitzpatrick is the absolute perfect mentor — or, to use his own word, placeholder.

Along with his relationship with Fitzpatrick and how he deals with the insane expectations that Dolphins fans have for him, Tua touched on a couple of other important topics during his media session.

One of them was how his Samoan background plays into his football career.

“Football definitely interwines with the Samoan culture that I come from, "he said. "In my culture, respect is the biggest thing. In football, respect is almost demanded from your head coach, the OC. You grow up not knowing how to talk back to an elder when they talk to you about doing something, you learn how to take advice. When you get chewed out, you learn how to eat it. I think it’s definitely helped shape me to the person that I am as well in that regard in terms of being respectful and what not."

And then Tua was asked about perhaps the most important topic as it relates to his future: the health of his right hip.

More specifically, Tua was asked how the hip was feeling and his anticipation for that first time he'll get tackled.

“To answer that question honestly, you just never know until it actually happens," he said. "I won’t know the feeling until I actually do get tackled. It’s almost like the trial-and-error kind of thing. You gotta go out and do it in order to know if it does hurt or it doesn’t. That’s pretty much what I can say. But as far as I how I feel right now, everything is going well.”