Tua Thoughts and Practice Observations

Miami Dolphins rookie quarterback Tua Tagovailoa now has been through three practices in pads, but it's still to early to draw conclusions

The Miami Dolphins conducted their third practice in pads Wednesday, which provided another opportunity to dissect everything rookie Tua Tagovailoa did at the Baptist Health Training Facility at Nova Southeastern University.

As has been the case all week, Tagovailoa showed some nice accuracy on most of his passes, which was to be expected given what he did at the University of Alabama.

His work in team drills was solid, if not spectacular, because he threw mostly short passes. He did have one nice completion in the middle of the field to rookie free agent Kirk Merritt. Another nice pass he threw was to Ricardo Louis near the sideline for a completion despite tight coverage by Nik Needham.

One play that didn't look good came when he scrambled after rolling out and looked like he was going to slide, only to change his mind at the last second and more or less just stopped and fell to the ground.

Tagovailoa spent some time working on center exchanges with second-year player Michael Deiter after the two had issues with this Tuesday, and this took place while fellow quarterbacks Ryan Fitzpatrick and Josh Rosen were throwing passes in a drill some 25 yards away.

Coach Brian Flores was asked before practice how Tagovailoa had looked in the first two days, along with whether there was a load management plan in place for the quarterback similar to the one involving Preston Williams.

"I’m not going to get into specifically what we’re going to with each individual player," Flores said. "Obviously he’s coming off the hip (injury). I think he’s looked good thus far, from that standpoint physically. If guys can go and they’re feeling good, we revisit it really on a daily basis. Again, it’s case by case.

"As far as how he’s looked the first few days, some good, some bad. Lots to improve upon. Some good throws, some good decisions, some throws that aren’t so good, some not-so-good decisions. Tua, like all of the quarterbacks — you could probably say the same thing for all of them — obviously we’re evaluating all of the quarterbacks and all of the players on the roster. A lot of improvement needs to be made, but I’m pleased with all of our quarterbacks, as well as a lot of the players that are out there competing now.”

On to some practice observations:

-- Quarterback Josh Rosen still throws the prettiest ball among the Dolphins quarterbacks, but there were a couple of occasions with some hesitation in the pocket, an issue that really hurt him last year.

-- Preston Williams made a nice adjustment to catch a deep pass against rookie first-round pick Noah Igbinoghene, though there a little push-off involved.

-- Likewise, Mike Gesicki made a nice catch downfield over safety Clayton Fejedelem.

-- Cornerback Byron Jones again showed his coverage ability by staying step by step with Williams on a deep sideline route.

-- Rookie draft picks Austin Jackson, Igbinoghene, Robert Hunt, Raekwon Davis, Brandon Jones and Solomon Kindley all appear to be given strong opportunities to earn significant roles early.