Now that the NFL has punished the Dolphins and owner Stephen Ross for tampering, it’s clear that the club was once again trying to replace quarterback Tua Tagovailoa with Tom Brady.
The 2021 season was filled with rumors that Miami was going to trade for Deshaun Watson, which meant Tagovailoa had to spend plenty of his time in press conferences addressing them. Now that the Brady revelations have come to light, Tagovailoa was asked in his Wednesday media session what he thought about the Dolphins’ punishment for pursuing the seven-time Super Bowl winner and former Saints head coach Sean Payton.
“I would say everyone heard about it yesterday when we went into the locker room, seeing it on the TV,” Tagovailoa said. “For me, I have no idea about all the details other than what was shown on TV with the $1.5 million fine and then something happening with Brady — I mean, I don’t know all the details. I don’t even know what happened. But I got to talk to a couple of the guys to kind of find out what was going on. And everyone’s wondering the same thing, so not too sure.”
As a follow-up, a reporter asked how it made Tagovailoa feel about his standing with the team.
“I remember I came in 2020, so whatever happened in 2019, I can’t even speak on that,” Tagovailoa said. “I was here in 2020 and I’m still here and I’m blessed to be here. If it has to do with support from the team, I think the team’s all-in with me and all the guys that we have now.”
That may be true at this point, if for no other reason than the team doesn’t really have many other options on Aug. 3. But unless Tagovailoa has a particularly strong 2022, Dolphins ownership may get more wandering eyes for a different quarterback in 2023.