Miami quarterback Tua Tagovailoa has a different look at the Dolphins’ mandatory minicamp this week, and it’s not just because he is clean-shaven.
“I told him I missed chubby Tua, man,” Miami wide receiver Jaylen Waddle said on Tuesday about his former Alabama teammate. “I miss chubby Tua, man. I ain’t going to lie, I didn’t like when I saw him. I told him, ‘I’m not (expletive) with it.’ I told him straight up: ‘I’m not (expletive) with it. Eat some more or something, man.’”
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After sustaining two concussions and missing five-and-a-half games during the 2022 season, Tagovailoa bulked up last offseason, hoping a sturdier frame would allow him to withstand the rigors of the quarterback position better. In 2023, the former Crimson Tide All-American played in every game and led the NFL in passing yards.
But in 2024, Tagovailoa returned to the Dolphins’ offseason work looking, in the words of coach Mike McDaniel, “svelte.”
“I ain’t going to lie: When I saw Tua at the Pro Bowl, I was kind of scared,” Miami wide receiver Tyreek Hill said on Tuesday. “Dude was fat as (expletive). He was fat. He was chubby. I was like, ‘Hold on, bro. Hold on, bro. Ryan Clark said you were kind of thick. He wasn’t lying.’ But seeing him now and where he’s come from and how skinny he’s gotten – what’s that stuff everybody is taking? Ozempic? He had to be taking that, I don’t know.”
Tagovailoa declined to give his weight when he met with reporters on Tuesday.
“I felt like I’d be better,” Tagovailoa said of his new physique. “I feel better, quicker on my feet, more nimble, all of that.”
Tagovailoa said he slimmed down through “diet and exercise” – and giving up sugar.
“You just give up sugar,” Tagovailoa said. “Give up sugar, you should be good.”
Tagovailoa said going from his 2022 build to his 2023 look to his 2024 body hasn’t hindered his performance.
“Just because you’re training with the weight that you have and even the weight that you lose, so your body sort of gets used to it as you’re training,” Tagovailoa said. “So it’s not like it happens all overnight. No, it’s a subtle change, and as you start to shred, you get used to holding that weight. You get used to moving around with that weight and whatnot, so it’s not much of a change in that sense.”
In addition to his slimmer build, Tagovailoa also has a new hair style – and a “little different” personality to go with it, a reporter asked Waddle.
“Yeah, facts,” Waddle said. “Hair twisted and some other -- I’m loving it, though. He’s looking good, feeling good. Got to throw with him a lot this offseason, so he’s looking good.”
The Dolphins are scheduled to continue mandatory minicamp on Wednesday and Thursday before breaking until training camp.
“What I’m seeing from him now is a lot of guys are getting together outside of here,” Hill said. “Hanging out, running routes together, spending off-field time together, and Tua is going a great job of orchestrating that. That’s a beautiful thing, because our first few years, we would do it here and there. But this year, he’s really honing in on the guys, hanging out, building that camaraderie with each other. That’s a beautiful thing, man. For him to have such leadership within that and to be a family man, it’s a beautiful thing. He’s growing. He’s growing, and you can obviously see it whenever we step out on the field.”
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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.