Against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the Miami Dolphins opted not to play most of their starters, allowing seventh-round rookie quarterback Skylar Thompson a chance to showcase his skills in a game setting.
This meant Tua Tagovailoa was stuck on the sideline, something that he clearly doesn’t like to do.
With another preseason game against the Las Vegas Raiders on the horizon, Tagovailoa says he’s hoping to get some opportunities to play.
“Man, I always want to play,” Tagovailoa said during his media availability. “I’m going to be honest. I wanted to play last week too, at least a couple of snaps. But Mike (McDaniel) decided that then wasn’t the time. Hopefully he gives the first offense an opportunity to go out there, hopefully get some plays in, understand some situations, knowing how to manage the game and get back into the groove of things in that sense, where we have no coaches on the field, we have no one to really line us up. We just figure out things on our own when we’re out there playing.”
With all of the changes that the Dolphins have undergone this offseason, the offense will need some actual game reps before they feel truly comfortable with the new weapons and new system.
This preseason, more than ever, it feels like teams are being extra cautious with their starters. The league is nearly split on the quarterbacks playing in the preseason specifically, but for Miami and Tagovailoa, it would probably be beneficial.
