Dolphins’ Tua Tagovailoa having workmanlike training camp — and seeing jiu-jitsu benefits

The start of training camp hasn’t been flashy for Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa but can be best described as workmanlike.

Each of his passes isn’t prodded and dissected with the ferocity of previous seasons, and maybe that’s a testament to his status as a bona fide starter, one who’s top question faced isn’t so much about ability as it is health.

Most of Tagovailoa’s sessions have consisted of him going back and forth against a Vic Fangio-led defense whose scheme has given him trouble in his first few years — and the Dolphins’ offense at times in camp.

But maybe a sign of the continued, gradual growth of Tagovailoa was his best practice to date on Tuesday. The fourth-year player shined in a bevy of team drills, particularly 11-on-11 work that featured several third-down conversions to top receivers Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle. It highlighted an impressive showing for the entire offense during the sixth summer session. But after practice, Tagovailoa downplayed the performance.

“I would say the way we look at it is not result-based,” he said. “It’s basically letting everyone finish with whatever technique they got, so regardless of if it was a sack, our defense gives us the opportunity to continue to read it out, to extend plays. It also gives the guys on the back end an opportunity to continue to play within a broken-down play or if a quarterback escapes the pocket, they’re going to have to move around and maneuver how they’re going to cover guys.

“So I wouldn’t say it’s necessarily result-based, although there are things that we have gotten corrected in every area whether it’s a blocking scheme, a route, how the guys are running the routes, how we’re looking at reading certain routes, our progressions in the plays, then where the checkdowns are, all of that. I think it’s really good when we’re able to look at it like that and not ‘Oh, I got sacked.’ Next play.”

Through six practices, Tagovailoa has thrown one interception — an intended pass to Hill over the middle of the field was intercepted by cornerback Kader Kohou on the second day of camp — but otherwise, he has taken care of the ball. The deep completions that were widespread during last year’s training camp haven’t been as frequent as Fangio’s defense has proved to be a good sparring partner for the explosive unit.

“It’s hard to distinguish what’s going to happen pre-snap and post-snap,” he said. “I think Vic does a good job with his defense and aligning guys where they need to align and making everything look the same for both run-action, pass-action, and I think what I see a lot more this time, this year with the defense is there’s a lot of communication. So I know everyone sees the camera that we have on our [helmet]. When we watch it, we get to see when we’re motioning guys, there’s a lot of communication going on in the back end and up front. It’s a lot more than what I’ve seen the past couple years.”

The Dolphins are still more than a week away from their preseason opener at home against the Falcons on Aug. 11, which will cap a pair of joint practices with Atlanta. It’s unclear whether Tagovailoa and other starters will play but teams have increasingly opted to sideline their key players for most or the entirety of the exhibition slate.

Given Tagovailoa’s spate of concussions last season, the Dolphins will face a decision to put him out on the field for his first live reps since Christmas Day or wait until the regular season opener on the road against the Los Angeles Chargers on Sept. 10.

“I think whatever work we need as an offense, whatever Mike [McDaniel] thinks we need, I’m for it,” Tagovailoa said when asked if he needs to play in the preseason. “Whether I play in all the preseason games, I play in none, I play in one, it doesn’t matter.”

When Tagovailoa does make his return to the field, he will likely be wearing the NFL’s new quarterback-specific helmet designed to reduce concussions, he said. Tagovailoa has been wearing the headgear since organized team activities in the spring. The helmet is also being worn by Pittsburgh Steelers’ Kenny Pickett, who like Tagovailoa dealt with head injuries last season.

“I feel very comfortable with that helmet,” Tagovailoa said. “The helmet feels good. So, we’ll see how that goes.”

Tagovailoa, who added about 10 pounds in the offseason, acknowledged that “freaky things” can happen with a sport as physical as football. But he’s seemingly already reaping the rewards of his offseason jiu-jitsu training, jokingly recounting a fall he had during organized team activities in the spring.

“I got hit from someone in front of me. I have no idea who it was, but I sort of hit a little somersault going backwards and I flipped backwards,” he said. “No backflips over here though. But I think to that, it was cool to see because now, in a weird way, it’s like the quarterback room cheers when we start to do that. I don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing that we’re doing jiu-jitsu falls.

“But it’s hard to gauge that because that was the first time I’ve done it. It’s hard to gauge it because these guys on the opposite side of the ball have got to stay away from the quarterback. No one can really touch me. So, the only time you can really put that to use is in a real, live situation game.”