Miami Dolphins GM on Tua Tagovailoa: ‘He needs to be available’

After making back-to-back appearances in the NFL playoffs for the first time in more than two decades, the Miami Dolphins aren’t in this season’s Super Bowl tournament.

During a Tuesday press conference, Dolphins general manager Chris Grier said Miami had an 8-9 season instead a third straight postseason appearance because of injuries to quarterback Tua Tagovailoa.

“This year, again we had high expectations,” Grier said. “Injuries happen, and I am not using that as an excuse. It is what it is. Every team deals with it. I would say our biggest one, no matter what happens, is obviously the quarterback. When he misses six-and-a-half games, when we miss it by a game getting into the playoffs, to me that’s the difference there.”

Tagovailoa sustained a concussion during the second game of the season and spent the next four games on injured reserve. The former Alabama All-American missed the final two games because of a hip injury.

In the 11 games that Tagovailoa played, he completed 72.9 percent of his passes, the third-best single-season completion rate in NFL history, a year after leading the league in passing yards.

“It was good to see his growth as a player when he was playing,” Grier said about the quarterback. “I would say that the one thing that has come out of this, even this year, was the leadership part. All the players were talking about his leadership and the step he’s taken. A couple of our free agents that came in said that he’s one of the best leaders they’ve been around for a quarterback. To see where he’s come from from his early time here was impressive.

“That being said, he needs to be available. He needs to know how to protect himself. You’re going to get hit at times. It’s always going to happen. But he needs to control what he can control. He understands that. Not being available for taking chances and risk is unacceptable to us, and he knows that.”

Grier said the Dolphins had “no concern at all” that Tagovailoa’s hip injury would become a lingering problem and look forward to a full 2025 season with the quarterback.

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“We’re very excited,” Grier said. “He’s 26 years old — still growth. I think every year you’ve seen growth in what he does. This year, (coach) Mike (McDaniel) and I talked about some of the steps he took when he was on the field, and he can still ascend, which is kind of weird for a quarterback that’s played as much as he has and won as many games as he has from high school, college and the NFL, so we’re very confident.

“His teammates are extremely confident in him, and I think that’s been the one thing that we’re seeing here is that he knows how important he is to these guys, and they’ve told him. And again, it’s his availability of controlling what he can control, like throw the ball away. You don’t have to run around and be Superman. Live for the next play. The sooner he understands that – which he’s told Mike and I he understands that clearly, because this was hard for him, missing these last two games after he played all last season. It was hard for him.

“And what you love about him is his competitiveness and his fight, I mean you guys have seen a little bit of how he is now when he’s pissed, and that’s what you love about him because he shows that to us all the time. And it’s not taking the competitive spirit out of him. It’s just having him play smart and realize how important he is to this franchise.”

In Tagovailoa’s absence in 2024, the Dolphins used three quarterbacks and started two.

“We were in on a number of topflight backup quarterbacks in the league,” Grier said. “We were runner-ups for a couple of them that we wanted to get here, and for some financial restraints and compensatory-pick stuff, we just couldn’t go to those — to the prices. But all of those guys wanted to come here. It’s a position we do not take lightly. We were working through that the entire offseason, and the fact that some of those guys were willing to come here at what we could pay them shows in how they believe in Mike, the staff and the offensive scheme, and the players that are here. They’re all excited about our skill group.

“That’s a position we will always focus on, and it will be a position that we will focus on this offseason. I will tell you that every stone will be unturned at that position, including the draft.”

The Dolphins’ most recent postseason victory came on Dec. 30, 2000.

“The goal is always to win, and it has been to win playoff games and compete for Super Bowls,” Grier said on Tuesday, “and that will not change. It was a very disappointing year. It was a hard year. A lot of lessons were learned, and, unfortunately, I think sometimes you have to go through these to take your next step, and very committed and excited for 2025 and the challenge. It’s not going to be easy, but nothing worth attaining is easy.

“And so excited for the possibility. We’ve got 10 draft picks right now with the compensatory things, and so very excited about the influx of young talent as well as free agency to get the roster going again and add to the players that are here because we feel very good about the core players that are here.”

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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on X at @AMarkG1.