Ever since the Miami Dolphins selected Tua Tagovailoa at #5 in the 2020 NFL draft, doubts, concerns, and even at times, perceived hatred towards him and the Miami Dolphins organization have taken place over the airwaves.

I remember teams lining up to “Tank for Tua” before his devastating hip injury, predicting him to go #1 overall potentially.  The Dolphins had a tough choice between Tua and Herbert.  When the pick was announced, Dolphins fans around the world rejoiced. I can vividly remember yelling and getting a mass of text messages, calls, etc.  NFL pundits seemed to immediately navigate to having Tua in their crosshairs.

Too injury prone, weak arm, small, suffered an injury that would take at least a year to recover from fully were at least some of what was spoken to.  Honestly, it made a lot of us fans think about those things.  Outside of his injury to his hip, I never truly had any concerns.  Then everything changed from my perspective.  I watched the mini-documentary with Tua and Trent Dilfer.  Just seeing what type of person Tua was, what his family consists of, the work he puts in, the drive, the swagger, it dawned on me that we now, finally, after all these years have a quarterback that can lead us to where we all want to be.

His first two years were spent coming in and out of games, seemingly not trusted in ‘big’ situations (I’m a huge fan of Fitzmagic, though). You could literally see the kid getting broken down almost weekly.  Coaches did not seem to back him up; the NFL and all of their shows, commentators, and blogs were religiously taking shots at Tua and the team.  In my view, he appears to be one of the kindest, wholehearted players I’ve seen come across the NFL, ever!

The Mina Kimes Show: Predicting the Top 10 Offenses

Enter Mike McDaniel.  Everything just did a complete 180 from that initial phone call with Tua while on the plane flying into Miami.  You could see in Tua’s eyes that he was different, felt different, and, most importantly, just happy to feel wanted. When a man or any person feels wanted and gets built up, the world can be their oyster.  When he was healthy, the Miami offense seemed unstoppable and finally had the potential to make the playoffs and be a contender. Of course, having the cheetah and the penguin doesn’t hurt!

Injuries cut through that potential, and a playoff game vs. Buffalo was very much in hand until the end, losing by only 3.  Yet, after that, very few people still changed their views on Tua outside of Sam Acho and Dan Orlovsky. They are still saying he is injury prone and can’t play a whole season; they are saying he is too small.  From my limited experience with this directly (like most of us), when a quarterback can get slammed on his head on turf, not many have the ability to shake that off simply.

Enter the 2023 off-season.  Initial mini-camp photos seen across the web showed a different-looking Tua.  Tree trunks for legs, thicker upper body, not to mention a badass tattoo that we’ve only gotten a glimpse of.  A different swagger also seems consistent with how he just handles himself.

With the newfound confidence of ‘learning’ to fall with the ongoing jiu-jitsu lessons, it all seems to be coming together for this kid.  Going into year two in this offense, Tua, with the weapons this team has and the potential to add more (Cook, offensive line, etc.), just screams that this team is a team to be reckoned with.

The rest of the NFL still doesn’t view this team or his health as sustainable, but as strong-willed as this kid is, he will show the skeptics and prove the negatives that surround him, and this team is Ill witted.  As a lifelong Dolphin fan for close to 40 years, this team has the potential not to have my wife and kids stay away from me while watching the games in 2023.