The Tua Hold-In Takes A Turn

Miami Dolphins Quarterback Tua Tagovailoa sits out practice on Day Two of training camp.

Jul 24, 2024; Miami Gardens, FL, USA; Miami Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel talks to quarterback Tua Tagovailoa (1) during training camp at Baptist Health Training Complex. / Sam Navarro-USA TODAY Sports

The Tua Tagovailoa hold-in continued Thursday, but unlike Wednesday's first practice, in which the fifth-year quarterback participated only in limited fashion, he was purely a spectator on the sidelines on Day Two.

At the Miami Dolphins Baptist Health Training Complex, Tagovailoa came out in an orange hoodie without a helmet and hands in his pockets as he watched the three backup quarterbacks warm up. He then watched the trio take all of the snaps in the drills while he held a football in his valuable left hand and monitored play calls on a radio in his right.

Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel, who didn't meet with the media on Thursday, warned Wednesday that while Tagovailoa and his agents negotiate a potential contract extension, his participation will be "very fluid" and "day-by-day."

"Honestly, we're trying to do our best to adjust with different parameters on a daily basis," McDaniel had said. "I will say that we'll continually adjust depending on different variables, so, in any scenario, there will be adjustments that best compensate as we can."

Backup Quarterback Performance So Far

The adjustment on Thursday was to give the quarterback snaps to backups Mike White, Skylar Thompson, and, to a much lesser extent, rookie Gavin Hardison.

"It's kind of a fluid thing," said White, a fourth-year quarterback who got into six games for Miami last season in mop-up duty and completed 5-of-6 passes for 74 yards with one touchdown and one interception. "I let them handle it. We kind of just go with the flow. It's part of the job description for a backup quarterback. You just have to be ready to go with the flow."

White said nothing has changed other than he's getting more snaps with the number one offense against the number one defense.

"It's nice," he said. "You guys know how it is, come season time QB 1 gets all the reps as it should be because he needs to be ready to go," he said. "So, it's nice to be able to throw to those guys and work with the one o-line and get those kinds of reps. I'm going to take advantage of it while I can and at the same time hope that Tua gets what he needs to do to get done and come back and start hanging out with us."

White cracked. While it's exciting to throw to Pro Bowl receivers such as Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle, there's a flip side.

"It is fun, but what isn't fun is going against the Jalen Ramseys and Jevon Hollands of the world, so it kind of neutralizes it, but it's really cool for me," he continued. "Years prior, you kind of sit back and watch those battles from afar and then you get to be a part of it and be in it. It's fun, but they don't make it easy out there for sure."

Tua's Teammates Weigh In On The Current Situation (Somewhat)

Very early in the 7-on-7 drills, White hit Alec Ingold for a 60-yard touchdown bomb, thanks to a twisting catch by the speedy fullback, which reporters asked if the Tagovailoa situation was a "bummer."

"I don't see it as a bummer," Ingold said. "I just think it's a circumstance we're going through. Every team has their circumstances in a season. I'm all about overcoming things as a team and don't use it as a distraction. I've never gone through negotiating hundreds of millions of dollars contract, so I'm not going to judge somebody going through the process.

"I believe in him. I believe in this whole organization. We're going to keep getting better. It's July. We've got a lot of time to improve and develop into a January football team."

It seems that Tagovailoa won't speak to the media until a deal is done, and the Dolphins told his teammates to be cautious when commenting on Tua's absence.

"I'm not really allowed to speak on that, but I wish I could," said right tackle Austin Jackson. "[Sh-t], we miss Tua though, but we have guys doing a good job stepping up [like] Mike White and Skylar Thompson. We've got confidence in them, but yeah, we want Tua back."

White said despite the potential 'hold-in' taking its toll on the team and Tagovailoa, he hasn't noticed anything different — yet.

"Nothing changes," he said. "I know he hasn't changed a bit. You couldn't tell he was going through what he's going through. He's the same guy in the locker room; he's still a leader; he's still around; he's still vocal.

"He hasn't kind of gone into the shadows. He's still the same old Tua, and that makes it easier, too. I could appreciate that because he's going through something. Obviously, I have no idea what it's like. Not a ton of us do, so the fact that we can count on him to be the same guy every day kind of speaks wonders for who he is as a leader, and it's going to help the team in the long run."