Tua Tagovailoa has been cleared to fully participate in Miami Dolphins practices once they resume in August, coach Brian Flores said Wednesday.
More than eight months after suffering a dislocated hip and posterior wall fracture in his last collegiate game vs. Mississippi State, Tagovailoa has passed his physical and he’ll be on the field participating without limitations in a couple weeks. The Dolphins will undergo testing, physicals and strength and conditioning over the next two weeks, then it will be football time beginning the second week of August.
“When we do get to practice you’ll see him out there,” Flores said.
In an unusual offseason, it might be difficult for Tagovailoa to unseat incumbent Ryan Fitzpatrick to win the starting quarterback job in Week 1, but Flores says he will get the opportunity to compete for the job in training camp.
“You always want competition in training camp. Every position is an open competition,” Flores said. “Obviously some players are further ahead than others. We all kind of know and understand that, but, yes, we want competition. There’s no jobs that are just going to be handed out.”
Fitzpatrick said earlier this offseason that he will Tagovailoa’s “biggest cheerleader,” but he wants to start in 2020.
Everything involving Tagovailoa’s health has gone according to plan thus far. Tagovailoa told ESPN in April that he was 100-percent and he’d be ready to play to start the 2020 season. The latest update from Flores is confirmation that everything is on track.
Regardless of whether he’s the Week 1 starter or not, Tagovailoa was drafted to be the answer to the Dolphins long-standing quarterback question. Miami selected him with the No. 5 pick in the 2020 draft despite questions about how he would recover from his hip injury. They felt comfortable with his progress and decided to bet on his talent.
Tua Tagovailoa and some of his new teammates reporting for camp today (via @MiamiDolphins). pic.twitter.com/7D3IW4iH30
— Cameron Wolfe (@CameronWolfe) July 27, 2020
Tagovailoa hasn’t done any on-field workouts with the Dolphins yet, as he spent most of the offseason in Alabama rehabbing his hip. He was an active participant in the Dolphins’ virtual meetings throughout the offseason, but it’s not quite the same as real football action. Either way, Flores doesn’t plan to put training wheels on Tagovailoa to start practice next month.
“We’re going to ask (him) to do the same as every other player — to come in every day, having gone over the install the night before, mentally prepare to go out there and practice, physically prepare to go out there and try to improve every day,” Flores said.
“I know there’s a lot of people wanting to talk about Tua. I understand it. But at the same time, he’s a young player. This is his first NFL training camp. He’s got to take it one day at a time, and not think about what’s realistic for the season. I think we have to take a one-day-at-a-time approach, which has been my message to him and it’s not just him, it’s every player on this team.”
