Dolphins' Tua Tagovailoa weighs in on contract negotiations during mandatory minicamp
The Miami Dolphins' 2024 mandatory minicamp got underway on Tuesday. The minicamp, which will run from Tuesday to Thursday, is one of the last offseason activities before a dead period until training camp gets underway in late July. As such, there's plenty of interest in seeing how current Dolphins and new rookies look in the […]
The Miami Dolphins' 2024 mandatory minicamp got underway on Tuesday. The minicamp, which will run from Tuesday to Thursday, is one of the last offseason activities before a dead period until training camp gets underway in late July.
As such, there's plenty of interest in seeing how current Dolphins and new rookies look in the later stages of the offseason.
However, what really drove the attention of the media assembled on Tuesday at the Baptist Health Training Complex was QB Tua Tagovailoa and his contract situation. Tagovailoa addressed the media, and he wasn't short on words when asked about his thoughts on the progress (or lack thereof) of his negotiations with the Dolphins.
"I'm not blind to people that are in my position that are getting paid," Tagovailoa said. " Am I concerned about it? I'm not concerned about it, but there's a lot of discussion that we've had that – we just are trying to move that thing into the right direction to where we can both be happy."
How much info is Tua getting from his agent during the process, and how much does he want to be in the loop? According to Tagovailoa, just on the big updates.
"My agent updates me, but for me, I don't like updates, like, every time. You don't got to tell me the little things. Just tell me things that matter. Are we getting to where we want to, or are we not? That's it."
In response to a question about if he thought there would have been more progress at this point, Tagovailoa believed that there actually has been.
"There's been a lot of progress at this point. From where we started, there's been a lot of progress. Now, you can ask the other question then: why aren't we seeing an agreement? Well, that's the tough part about it. That's why it's a business. That's why you've got one side and the other trying to work to meet in the middle."
Asked if he views Jared Goff and the $53 million as a benchmark for his deal, Tagovailoa all but tacitly acknowledged that it is.
"Well, I'll tell you one thing. The market is the market. If we didn't have a market, none of that would matter. Just be an organizational thing. Didn't matter if that guy got paid that because it's up to the organization. So that's what I'd say. The market is the market. That's it."
It's honestly hard not to agree with him on that issue especially. The league has been one that's been about following precedent in matching contracts with performance levels as time goes along. Tua and Goff have had very similar per game stats over the last two seasons, so the marketplace setting his value with Goff's deal is a reasonable position to take.
As far as whether he sees a deal getting done before training camp, Tua expects to get a deal done, but acknowledged that it's beyond just his control.
"I'm confident that a deal will get done. But then again, it's not in my control. It's really up to both sides meeting in the middle with this."
Tagovailoa admitted though that it's been difficult to separate the personal and the business side of the matter.
"100 percent. For people that talk about business is different than personal, sure. Like, I can agree to some extent, but who you are as a person for what you do business and personal is who you are with how you do everything. That's how I see it. That's just how I look at it. And if not, if you can be two different people at once, then hey, by all means. You can do that. But to me, that's just not how I am."
When asked if he was frustrated, Tagovailoa said he wasn't, but his true feelings don't appear to be far off from it though.
"Not frustrated, but I'm another word, but…yeah." Tagovailoa smiled. "Just want to get something done. That's it. Just want to get something done."
Concerned? Antsy? Pissed off? "Not concerned, concerned is not the right word. That's way off from the word. Probably antsy. I wouldn't say pissed off. I mean, this is the nature of the beast, right? This is how it goes."
Miami fans – many of them, at least – are certainly hoping Tua and the Dolphins can find that middle ground, and that it happens sooner rather than later.
