{"id":169927,"date":"2026-02-26T10:56:19","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T10:56:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/169927\/"},"modified":"2026-02-26T10:56:19","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T10:56:19","slug":"tua-tagovailoas-grace-impresses-miamis-new-offensive-coordinator","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/169927\/","title":{"rendered":"Tua Tagovailoa\u2019s \u2018grace\u2019 impresses Miami\u2019s new offensive coordinator"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Miami Dolphins introduced their offensive coordinator for the 2026 season on Wednesday, and Bobby Slowik followed new general manager Jon-Eric Sullivan<\/a> and new head coach Jeff Hafley <\/a>in saying it was too soon to say if Tua Tagovailoa<\/a> had a future as the NFL team\u2019s quarterback.<\/p>\n

But Slowik also said the former Alabama<\/a> All-American \u201ccan absolutely bounce back<\/a>\u201d after losing his starting spot in the 2025 season.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI\u2019d say, obviously, we\u2019re way early in the process of this whole thing with the new staff,\u201d Slowik said<\/a> when asked if Tagovailoa fit in the Dolphins\u2019 2026 plans. \u201cThere\u2019s new people everywhere. Being perfectly honest, we\u2019re still going through the staffing on my end. That hasn\u2019t quite been buttoned up yet, so we still got some things going on there. So, like, the player evaluation mode, we\u2019re still in that. Also, there\u2019s a lot of new coaches. I got to get to know the team. So even getting to the point where we\u2019re able to talk about who\u2019s going to be here, how are we going to do this, we haven\u2019t even got anywhere remotely close to that with the exception of knowing that we\u2019re going to try to push competition as often as we can at every single spot.\u201d<\/p>\n

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After joining Miami as the fifth pick in the 2020 NFL Draft, Tagovailoa became the starting quarterback in the sixth game of his rookie season and stayed in the lineup, when healthy, until being benched with three games remaining in 2025.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I can say about Tua just from being with him last year,\u201d Slowik said<\/a>, \u201cI know last year was a difficult year. It was a difficult year for him without a doubt for a lot of different reasons. And I think what jumped out to me was, like, the grace he handled that with, the way he went about his daily routine through that season, even at the end of the year, the kind of person he was to everybody and to his teammates. Really, I mean, you can\u2019t say enough about how good of a person he was and how he handled that situation is all you could ask for.\u201d<\/p>\n

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After missing four games because of concussions in 2022, Tagovailoa earned Pro Bowl recognition in 2023, when he led the NFL in passing yards. In 2024, Tagovailoa led the NFL in completion percentage, but he missed six games \u2013 four with a concussion and two with a hip injury.<\/p>\n

In 2025, Tagovailoa\u2019s stats were down across the board \u2013 except for interceptions. With a career-high 15, Tagovailoa had the second-most in the NFL even though he didn\u2019t play in the final three games. For the first time, the Dolphins had a losing record with Tagovailoa as their starting quarterback, going 6-8 in 2025 before he sat for the final three games.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I think is so great about sports,\u201d Slowik said<\/a>, \u201cand really why, you know, a large reason people get into coaching is there\u2019s stories like that all the time. You\u2019re talking about people that are at the peak of their profession. They\u2019re the best in the world at what they do, not just physically, but, like, mentally, they\u2019re some of the strongest human beings there are. And some of the things that all athletes — every year you hear comeback stories — come back from are incredible. So absolutely I think Tua can, he can absolutely bounce back. I think that\u2019s one of the great things about sports.\u201d<\/p>\n

If Tagovailoa is with the Dolphins two months from now, he\u2019ll cost Miami $57 million. His contract includes a guarantee of $54 million for the 2026 season, and $3 million of his 2027 salary becomes guaranteed if Tagovailoa is on the team\u2019s roster three days after the NFL\u2019s 2026 fiscal year begins in March.<\/p>\n

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If the Dolphins release Tagovailoa before then, he will count $99.2 million against their 2026 salary cap \u2013 about one-third of the team\u2019s total to spend and $42.8 million more than if he is on the team. Some NFL bookkeeping regulations could reduce the hit to $67.4 million in 2026, with the other $31.8 million in dead money kicked down the road to the 2027 salary cap if he\u2019s designated as a post-June 1 release.<\/p>\n

If Miami could pinpoint what went wrong with Tagovailoa in the 2025 season, the Dolphins might be able to salvage their investment in the quarterback \u2013 a four-year, $212.4 million contract extension in 2024.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnytime somebody goes through a difficult year, it\u2019s always never as simple as one thing,\u201d Slowik said<\/a>. \u201cIt never is. It\u2019s always a lot of different things that can go into it, and could I pinpoint any specific area? No, not really. I just know it was a very difficult year for him, and I know that everything he could control and how he went through the year, he did a phenomenal job of controlling those things and, hopefully, he\u2019s able to come out the better end for it.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The Dolphins fired coach Mike McDaniel after the 2025 season. While Frank Smith was Miami\u2019s offensive coordinator, McDaniel called the plays.<\/p>\n

Hafley took over from McDaniel after serving as the defensive coordinator for the Green Bay Packers. Hafley kept Slowik on the Miami staff, moving him from senior passing-game coordinator to offensive coordinator.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, we\u2019re all from the same tree,\u201d Slowik said<\/a> when asked to compare the Dolphins\u2019 2025 and 2026 playbooks. \u201cThe way I like to frame it is very similar to, like, the bones are the same, the roots are the same. But all the trees grow different, and a lot of that has to do with the players you have on any given team, which changes year to year. I think a lot of people don\u2019t realize how much even within a specific offense, your offense morphs and changes year to year, and that\u2019s dependent on the people you have on that team at that time, and then where it evolves is always part of it as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I would say the starting points are the same. I believe in running the ball, believe strongly in running the ball. I think most of the successful teams in the NFL these days run the ball really well at a high clip. And really build it from there as far as got to win in the trenches. I like keeping the defense off-balance is probably my No. 1 thing as far as what I look for as a play-caller while making sure I marry it to who we have on the team.\u201d<\/p>\n

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