Miami Dolphins star Tua Tagovailoa has been hard at work in the gym during the offseason, with fans noticing that the quarterback has a new frame ahead of the 2023/24 NFL season.
The 2020 fifth-overall pick, 25, suffered two major concussions last season but still managed to turn out for the Sunshine State-based franchise 13 times. Miami also took up Tagovailoa's fifth-year option on his contract, squashing any rumours of Tom Brady coming out of retirement for the second time to join the Dolphins.
And to hit the ground running, Tagovailoa appears to have bulked up by hitting the weights room, with fans noticing his new look during practice this week.
"Tua LOOKS THICC," a fan said of the 6ft 1in ace. "I double taked watching a practice vid. Is that AJ Dillon tossing passes? And no I don’t think this is a bad thing..dude looks like he’s been crushing the weight room."
"There’s no way this is Tua," another fan said on social media. Tagovailoa overcoming neck and back injuries is welcomed news for Dolphins fans, especially as the quarterback considered retirement. I considered [retirement] for a time, having sat down with my family, having sat down with my wife and having those kind of conversations," Tagovailoa revealed.
"But it would be really hard for me to walk away from this game with how old I am, with my son. I always dreamed of playing as long as I could to where my son knew exactly what he was watching, that he's watching his dad. It's my health, it's my body, and I feel like this is what's best for me and my family."
Tagovailoa finished the 2022 campaign on 3,548 passing yards from 400 attempts, with 25 touchdowns. The Dolphins finished second in the AFC East, earning a wild card slot. Their postseason ended rather quickly, though, with a loss to the Buffalo Bills in the wild-card round.
Fans also noticed Tua wearing a small camera on the side of his helmet during Miami OTAs. The camera will capture footage that will then be analysed to help the quarterback. And coach Mike McDaniel has praised Tagovailoa for the work he's putting in, having also taken up martial arts to help him avoid injuries.
“I’ve seen a guy that’s followed through with his words as well as any young man that I’ve come across in my career," McDaniel said. "Controlling the controllable is something that I would epitomize his offseason with. You want to talk about going above and beyond — training, martial arts.
"So much so that he knew the training before he knew what it was called. I think he was calling it judo. Jiujitsu is what he was doing, but that in terms of helping him progress in his career has been phenomenal."
McDaniel added: "The work that he’s done this offseason, it was so obviously beneficial that we’ve incorporated it into some of our drill work that we’ll do with the quarterbacks. I think it was Teddy Bridgewater (who) made this point to me last year. As a quarterback you go, September starts, and then you get tackled.
"And then you get tackled for six months and then you don’t again until September. So how can we help train quarterbacks to stay healthy because it wasn’t just too early? How do you stay healthy in this game and stay available? And that’s something that that whole offseason training has really helped us try to take a good step in the right direction for how to best prepare players for an NFL season.”
