It’s been roughly two weeks since the Miami Dolphins began their training camp with strength and conditioning drills and walk-through scenarios ahead of the 2020 NFL season.
Yet, one bit of news out of Dolphins camp may come as a surprise.
Dolphins coaches say they have not seen rookie quarterback Tua Tagovailoa throw a football during a practice setting just yet.
That may seem like an odd or moot point made Saturday by Dolphins offensive coordinator Chan Gailey and quarterbacks coach Robby Brown, both tasked with leading Miami’s offense and helping Tagovailoa develop as the Dolphins’ next franchise quarterback.
But no need to be alarmed.
The fundamental point the Dolphins coaches, including head coach Brian Flores, have tried to emphasize regarding Tagovailoa’s development in Miami: It will be a slow, steady and arduous process.
And it could come down to one major factor.
“He’s going to develop quickly or slowly depending on how much he grasps the offense, and how quickly he comes (along), and how he develops as a football player. A lot of that is based on health,” Gailey said Saturday during his first media session since Flores hired him out of retirement earlier this year.
“There are a lot of factors in there. I hope I have a big impact on (Tagovailoa’s development), but you never know about that. You have to see how fast and how well a player comes on, and you see what he does. … We’ll try to put him in a position to be successful when the time comes.”
Tagovailoa’s health — and his progression from a hip dislocation and posterior wall fracture he suffered last year — has appeared to be just fine during the team’s workouts.
The team has shared social media posts of Tagovailoa simply running alongside teammates, which have excited Dolphins fans about the potential of their new top pick.
Dolphins camp will eventually escalate to 11-to-11 football work on Aug. 17 — roughly four weeks before Miami’s season opener in New England on Sept. 13.
So, the Dolphins coaches may have to wait another week or so until they can see Tagovailoa sling it.
But the coaches are fully aware of what their new offensive weapon can do.
“You look at the success he’s had. Obviously, he’s a very good leader. You take all those great players that they had at Alabama, it’s got to come together on the field. … And obviously his leadership, his ability to throw the football, his touch, game management — all of that type of stuff,” Gailey said complementing Tagovailoa, the No. 5 pick in April’s NFL draft.
“There were a bunch of good quarterbacks. We could’ve had one of several. But we were glad to get Tua.”
Tagovailoa isn’t the only quarterback drawing some excitement from Gailey, who will begin his second stint as a Dolphins offensive coordinator this season nearly 20 years after his first in Miami.
The opportunity for Gailey to work again with Dolphins quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick, who was Gailey’s starter with the Buffalo Bills from 2010-12 and New York Jets from 2015-16, was just as appealing.
Fitzpatrick, who has an intimate knowledge of Gailey’s scheme as a result, will likely hold the Dolphins starting quarterback job until either Tagovailoa or third-year quarterback Josh Rosen unseats him for the position.
“I’m very excited to work with Fitz again,” Gailey said. “That was something that did play a part. If it was not part of it, it might have been a different story, I don’t know.”
Gailey, 68, was retired for the past three years before Flores reached out to him at the end of last season.
Sure, Gailey’s son Tate is a high school football coach, and “he hung out around there a little bit.” Gailey also has five grandsons and has spent time “watching them play all the sports they play, going to school events.” Gailey, himself, has also played “a decent amount of golf.”
But outside of watching some college and professional football games, Gailey insists he was doing no football work during his time away.
Even Brown — the Dolphins new quarterback coach who played the position for Gailey at Georgia Tech, and worked on Gailey’s Jets staff in New York — was taken back by Gailey’s return to the sidelines.
Gailey believes destiny pointed him towards Flores’ proposition and working with Fitzpatrick again.
“You know my faith is very strong,” Gailey said. “After talking with my wife and kids, we felt like this is something we ought to do. This is where we ought to be in this time in our life.”
Even at this stage of his career, more than 40 years into coaching football, Gailey aims to be a player’s coach.
He wants the Dolphins offense to be balanced in theory, but wants players to utilize their artistry to make the most of their opportunities, particularly in the passing game where his work with Fitzpatrick and Tagovailoa will take the Dolphins as far as they can go as they begin their first season together in Miami.
“If you take an artist who knows how to get open and knows what he’s doing versus a defender and you trying to fit him in a box, that’s where you make the guy less of a player than he really is. I want guys to be able to go out and be creative,” Gailey said of his coaching philosophy.
“I tell them, ‘You have to be where you’re supposed to be when you’re supposed to be there. But how you get there, that’s up to you.’ We give them the freedom to go get open, and then we think we have talented enough quarterbacks that can see that and get them the football.”
