Tua Tagovailoa impressing teammates with second year improvement

The Miami Dolphins hope that Tua Tagovailoa is their starting quarterback both now and well into the future. Entering his second season in the NFL, Tagovailoa has already shown great improvement and has taken a big step in his development. So much so that his Dolphins teammates have been impressed with what they have seen out of him in training camp, according to Michael David Smith of Pro Football Talk.

Tagovailoa growing more comfortable with offense

Ryan Fitzpatrick opened the 2020 season as Miami’s starting quarterback. But after a 3-3 start, the Dolphins’ brass turned to Tagovailoa in Week 8 looking for a spark from the talented rookie. Tagovailoa led the Dolphins to three consecutive wins to start out his NFL career. Miami ultimately won seven out of their final ten games but fell just short of making the playoffs.

Now that Tagovailoa was able to enter training camp knowing that he is the starting quarterback, he has been able to grow as the leader of the offense.

“He’s always had accuracy,” Dolphins safety Eric Rowe said of Tagovailoa. “That was never a problem. He always had the zip, always had the power. I just believe it’s that year-two jump that everyone needs to make from their rookie year. And obviously the type of offense. Last year, I even noticed his playbook was condensed to slants and bubbles. They really wouldn’t let him show his arm. Now seeing training camp, a lot more deep routes, they’re allowing him the opportunity to throw it deep. That’s what we need. Tua is making that jump. I see each day he’s getting better from the first day.”

Confidence big part of Tagovailoa’s improvement

Tagovailoa completed 64.1% of his passes as a rookie, throwing for 1,814 yards, 11 touchdowns and five interceptions. The talent and potential improvement is there for the former Tagovailoa. In his 32 games at Alabama, he completed 69.3% of his passes for 7,442 yards, 87 touchdowns and 11 interceptions. He was the runner up for the 2018 Heisman Trophy.

The Dolphins spent their fifth overall pick of the 2020 NFL Draft on Tagovailoa. Now that he has some NFL experience under his belt and got a full offseason to prepare as the starter, Tagovailoa is showing serious improvement and his confidence is skyrocketing.

“It just seems like confidence,” tight end Durham Smythe said. “That’s a big thing for year-one to year-two players. He understands the offense, yada, yada, has got a great arm. Everyone says that. Everyone knows that. But confidence year-one to year-two, that’s big. If he continues to develop that, the sky is the limit.”

Miami is undoubtedly hoping that his off-season growth translates to success on the field in 2021. If Tagovailoa can continue to show improvement, the Dolphins could see themselves as a playoff team yet again.

Image courtesy of: Michael Reaves via Getty Images.