Tua Tagovailoa Just Turned On Mike McDaniel (After McDaniel Saved His Career)

Tua Tagovailoa Just Turned On Mike McDaniel (After McDaniel Saved His Career)

franchise quarterback. That’s not the forum to displace that. I think he knows that now. Heavy is the crown of being a franchise quarterback. I’m owning up to that right now. For myself, I got to look at myself as as the leader. Do you remember that video we did last week about the Dolphins being 1 and5 and everything falling apart? Well, buckle up because somehow things got worse. I mean, way worse. The Miami Dolphins just got absolutely demolished by the Cleveland Browns 31-6 on Sunday. And we’re not talking about losing to a good team here. We’re talking about a team that was coming into this game 1 and5. They were just as bad as Miami, but the Dolphins made them look like the 2007 New England Patriots. Tua threw three interceptions for the second straight week, completing just 12 of 23 passes for 100 yards with a career-l passer rating of 24.1. And then to top it all off, he got benched in the fourth quarter for seventhround rookie Quinn Euers. The Dolphins are now 1-6. Their season is over. But here’s what we need to talk about today. Because this isn’t just about bad football anymore. There’s clearly something broken between Tua and Mike McDaniel. There’s beef. There’s tension. And the whole thing is unraveling in real time. Check this out. Last week, Tua publicly threw his teammates under the bus for being late to meetings. I think it starts with the leadership. We have guys showing up to player only meetings late, guys not showing up to player only meetings. Like, there’s a lot that goes into that. So, it’s a lot of things of of that nature that we got to get cleaned up. and then he apologized for it owning up to that right now. Um, you know, I’ve talked to to guys on the team about it, talked to the leaders about it and uh, you know, that they they know my heart. They know that the intent was right. But no matter the intent um you know the intent can be right but when things get misconstrued or however the media wants to portray it you know that that leaves a void of of silence and a lot of questions for the guys on our team. And now after getting benched he’s making comments that sound like he’s saying it’s hard to do the job of quarterback and head coach at the same time. just trying to maneuver everything and and trying to build a collection of guys to to kind of bring along with with me. And uh I got to be able to kind of be able to multitask if if that makes sense. Be able to do that and while doing that kind of continue to whatever it was last year and the years prior for myself to to get going again and get in that flow. So, we’re going to dive into what’s really going on in Miami, whether the Dolphins should bench Tua permanently, and what their options are with this contract, and whether it’s completely out of line that Tua seems to be turning on Mike McDaniel after McDaniel literally saved his career. So, real quick before we get to the video, this video is sponsored. If you took my Monday Night Football Play in my last video, then congratulations on 3.5xing your money. And now, Price Pix gave us a free square to celebrate the new NBA season. Steph Curry just needs one point for his square to hit. And I have a play for you to take advantage of this. First, download prize picks and use my promo code microphone to get $50 when you make a play of $5 or more when you sign up for prize picks. And for opening night of the NBA season, I have Steph Curry making less than 4.5 threes, Alpar Chen getting more than 10 rebounds, and Luca getting more than 48.5 points, rebounds, and assists, which should be easy because the last time he came off of a summer where he played European basketball, he went way over this. I have additional plays on my IG page, and my Discord server has been profiting each and every single day, and you can check that out in the WP link in the description down below. And thank you Prize Pics for sponsoring today’s video. Mic check 1212. What’s going on everybody? So, let’s set the scene. The Dolphins came into week seven at 1 and5 which was already a disaster. But this past week had been especially rough because Tua had publicly called out his teammates for being late to a players only meeting after their loss to the Chargers. Then Mike McDaniel basically said that Tua was wrong to do that, calling his comments misguided and saying that wasn’t the right forum. Then had Tua apologize to his teammates. The whole thing was messy. So, the Dolphins show up in Cleveland with all that drama hanging over them, and they needed a win desperately. Both teams were 1 and5. This was a must-win game for Miami if they had any hope of salvaging their season, and they got absolutely destroyed. The final score was 31 to6, but that doesn’t even tell the full story of how bad this was. Miami managed just 219 total yards of offense. They were 1 for13 on third down. They committed 11 penalties for 103 yards. They had four turnovers and the Browns scored 21 points off of those turnovers. The weather was bad. Heavy rain and wind in the first half, which definitely made things tougher. But you know who played just fine in those same conditions? Browns rookie quarterback Dylan Gabriel, who was making his second NFL start. He completed 13 of 18 for 116 yards and got his first career win. Meanwhile, Tua looked completely lost. He threw an interception on the first play of the second half that got returned for a touchdown by Tyson Campbell. That put the Browns up 24 to6 and basically ended the game right there. But Tuo wasn’t done gifting the Browns points. Later in the third quarter, he threw another interception to safety Ray Shawn Jenkins. That was returned to the Miami 11 yd line. Two plays later, the Browns scored again. And then came the benching. With about eight minutes left in the fourth quarter and the Dolphins down 31 to6, Mike McDaniel pulled Tua out of the game and sent in Quinn Eers, a seventh round pick who’d been elevated to QB2 just hours before kickoff. Mike McDaniel explained why he chose Quinn Eers. It was much more about him and and what he was doing on the football field. It was an assessment for this game, this particular defense, all the variables compiled. I thought he gave us the best chance um to win. So that’s when you knew this was rock bottom. When you’re getting benched in a blowout loss to a 1 in5 team, that’s about as bad as it gets. So let’s talk about Tua because this has become a pattern. He’s now thrown 10 interceptions in seven games this season. He’s had two three interception games in the past 2 weeks. According to statistics, Tua has the most games with two plus interceptions in the NFL since 2022. He’s done it 12 times. For context, he threw only seven interceptions in 11 games last year. His passer rating was 101.4. He looked like a legitimate franchise quarterback. Now, he leads the entire NFL in interceptions, and his decision-m has completely fallen apart. And here’s the thing. Some of these picks aren’t entirely his fault. Weather was brutal in Cleveland. The offensive line isn’t giving him great protection. Oh, wait. Well, actually, this looks like pretty good protection to me. But he’s playing without Tyreek Hill who’s out for the season. I mean, yeah, these are rational excuses, but at the same time, he still has Darren Waller, Jaylen Wadd, Devon Aan giving him incredible run support, which makes the play action even more threatening. You can’t keep making these excuses for him. And after the game, he admitted that he wasn’t happy with his play, saying, “Definitely not happy. Not proud of where I’m at with my play, with how I’ve gone about things this year. I know I’ve got to be a lot better and I’ve been better for the Miami Dolphins in years past. But this isn’t years past. This is this year. But here’s where it gets really messy. Let’s walk through what happened over the past week because this timeline is really crazy. I mean, in week six, they lose to the Los Angeles Chargers and Tua goes off in his postgame press conference and publicly throws his teammates under the bus. We have guys showing up to player only meetings late. Guys not showing up to player only meetings. Like 2 days later, Mike McDaniel pushes back hard on this. Regardless of an intent and what was on on Tua’s mind after a loss as as the franchise quarterback, that’s not the forum to displace that. I think he knows that now. And on Wednesday, Tua apologizes. I’ve made a mistake and I’m owning up to that right now. You I’ve talked to to guys on the team about it, talked to the leaders about it. They they know my heart. But at that point, the damage was already done. On Sunday, Tua throws three picks, looks completely lost, and gets benched. And then after the game, he makes this comment. Uh, I got to be able to kind of be able to multitask, if if that makes sense. Whatever it was last year and the years prior for myself to to get going again and get in that flow. Now, multitask is a really interesting word choice, and analyst Chris Kaufman picked up on this immediately. This multitask remark felt like Tua saying he’s having trouble doing the job of quarterback and head coach at the same time. You can fire both the QB and head coach into the sun if you’d like, but it is and has been clear that there’s an issue between the two. So, think about what Tua just did here. He threw his teammates under the bus publicly. Then he had to apologize. Then he went out and played his worst game of the season and got benched. And now he’s making comments that sound like he has to do Mike McDaniel’s job and his own job. That’s not taking accountability. That’s deflecting blame. And it’s a really bad look for a guy who just a week ago was criticizing his teammates for not being accountable. And here’s where things get really complicated. Could the Dolphins even move on from Tua if they wanted to? Well, his contract suggests otherwise. In July of 2024, Tua signed a 4-year, $212.4 million extension with $167.1 million guaranteed for injury. It was the fifth highest contract for a quarterback in terms of average annual value at the time. Miami committed big time to him and according to ESPN’s Matt Miller, if the Dolphins cut to it right now, it would cost them $79.2 million in dead cap space. They could use a postjune 1st designation to spread that dead money across 2026 and 2027, but either way, that’s a catastrophic cap hit. And remember, Miami is already within about $4 million of the salary cap ceiling this season, so they don’t have a ton of flexibility. The first realistic out for the Dolphins is before the 2027 season. If they release him then with a postjune 1st designation, they’d face $34.8 million in dead money, but they’d at least save significant cap space at that point. But that’s 2 years away. For now, the Dolphins are stuck with Tua through at least 2026, barring some kind of crazy circumstance. So, when people are saying bench Tua or cut Tua or move on from Tua, they don’t understand the financial reality. The Dolphins can’t move on from him without absolutely destroying their salary cap. They’re paying him $53.1 million per year on average. You can’t just eat that. This is kind of what happened with Russell Wilson and the Denver Broncos. Denver had to take an $85 million cap hit spread over two years to move on from Wilson. It crippled their roster flexibility. The Dolphins would be looking at something similar if they went that route. Some analysts have pointed out that Miami has insurance on Tua’s contract worth $49.3 million because of his injury history, but that only kicks in if he’s medically unable to play. If he’s just playing badly, the insurance doesn’t help. So, the Dolphins are basically trapped. They gave Tua this huge extension last summer when they probably should have just let him play out his fifth year option and seen how 2024 went, but they committed early and now they’re paying the price. Now, here’s where it gets really interesting and honestly kind of messed up because there’s clearly a fractured relationship developing between Tua and Mike McDaniel. And when you look at the history here, it’s pretty wild how we got to this point. Think about the backstory. When McDaniel got hired in 2022, Tua was coming off of a really rough 2021 season under Brian Flores. Flores had benched Tua multiple times for Ryan Fitzpatrick. There were reports that Flores wanted to draft Justin Herbert instead of Tua. Flores basically gave up on Tua. Then Mike McDaniel comes in and everything changes. McDaniel builds the entire offensive system around Tua’s strengths. Quick passes, play action, getting the ball out fast. The Dolphins trade for Tyreek Hill in the offseason. They also drafted Tua’s college buddy Jaylen Wadd the year prior. He creates this whole offense that makes Tua look like a star. And it worked. In 2022, Tua looked good. In 2023, he was even better. He threw for over 4,600 passing yards with a 101.5 passer rating. The Dolphins went 11 and6 and made the playoffs. Tua made his first Pro Bowl. Everything McDaniel touched seemed to turn to gold. And that’s when Miami gave Tua the massive extension. And McDaniel was a huge part of that decision. He vouched for Tua. He said Tua was the guy. McDaniel essentially bet his job on Tua being a franchise quarterback. Fast forward to now and the relationship appears to be completely breaking down. And let me walk you through the signs. After Tua called out his teammates publicly last week, McDaniel took the rare step of publicly disagreeing with him. We’ve been very accountable to me. It sounds like there was something on his mind with regard to the specific meetings with a couple individuals that he was trying to get corrected with direct communication. That’s not something that McDaniel typically does. He’s usually super supportive of his players in public. I mean, two years ago when Tua was playing out of his mind, people were wondering, “Hey, is Tua actually a good quarterback or is he just a system quarterback?” When Mike McDaniel was asked this question, just look at his reaction. There are some folks who believe that many quarterbacks in this scheme with you as the coach with Tyreek and Jaylen, maybe even many, many quarterbacks would excel, would flourish, would be near the top of the passer Raider leading MVP candidate. What if any push back is there relative to Wait, no, no, hold on. Tua is a little different. We have to push this podium over. Um, my my answer to that would would be who the f cares because it’s there’s it is a team were were working together. And now after the Browns game, McDaniel didn’t sugarcoat things, making it sound like he was going to bench him. I mean, if if you uh are negatively affecting the football team uh routinely, um I don’t have a choice but to um you know, assess a different player and um and I have to coach um a lot better as well. So, we need uh we’re going to find out um who and what we’re made of. Barring injury. Yeah, he’s going to take the snaps this week and he’s going to um be our starter this week. And uh my expectation is that uh we don’t um throw 10 picks. And to be honest, I don’t blame McDaniel. I mean, this isn’t just one bad game. This is multiple bad games after Tua seems to have taken multiple opportunities to throw his teammates under the bus and the head coach that got him a huge lifechanging contract that guarantees him and his bloodline generational wealth for years to come. Tua betrayed both of these people and even despite that, Mike McDaniel still backed him up until recently. This isn’t about one bad game anymore. This is multiple instances of betrayal. Tua constantly hurting the team on the field and off the field with his comments and betraying the people that made him who he was. I can’t get over this. This is a head coach that literally saved his career when Brian Flores had given up on him. Mike McDaniel brought Tua back and made him look like a Pro Bowl QB. He got him paid. And now when things are going bad, it feels like Tua is starting to turn on the guy who did everything for him. Is that fair to McDaniel? Like this is the coach that completely rebuilt your career. This is the guy who vouched for you to get 212 million. He could have easily came out and said, “Yeah, any quarterback would succeed in this system, but he didn’t. And now you’re going to throw him under the bus when things get tough.” I’m not saying McDaniel is blameless. He’s made mistakes. The culture issues, the lack of adjustments, the penalties. That’s all on him. But there’s something that really feels off about Tua publicly questioning McDaniel’s leadership after everything Mike McDaniel did for him. So now here’s the question. Should the Dolphins bench Tua permanently? From a pure football standpoint, you could make the argument he’s thrown 10 interceptions in seven games. His passer rating is in the basement. He’s turning the ball over at critical moments. The offense can’t score touchdowns. Miami has only managed two field goals in their last two losses. At some point, you have to try something different. But here’s the problem. Who are you benching him for? When yours is a seventh round rookie who had a shaky career at Texas. He went 5 for8 for 53 yards in garbage time against the Browns. but he’s not ready. Zack Wilson was the backup before you. And to be honest, Zack Wilson has been a disaster everywhere he’s played. So, what do you do? Are you going to pay Tua $53 million per year to sit on the bench? That doesn’t make any sense either. I think what’s going to happen is this. Tua is going to keep starting because the Dolphins don’t have a choice. But the leash is going to get shorter and shorter. And if the losses keep piling up, which they probably will, then at some point later this season, maybe week 12 or 13, McDaniel might say screw it and give viewers or Wilson some starts just to see what they have. But for next week, the Dolphins play the Falcons and I’d bet money that Tua is the starter. McDaniel basically has to ride this out and hope Tua figures something out, even though there’s no real evidence that that’s going to happen. The more interesting question is what happens in the offseason if the Dolphins finish 4 and 13 or 5 and 12? Are they going to draft a quarterback high? Because remember, they can’t cut Tuo without destroying their cap, but they could draft someone and basically force a competition in training camp 2026. And I think that’s a fairly realistic scenario, which is bringing in a rookie to push Tua. And if Tua doesn’t respond, you can make the switch mid-season next year when the cap hit becomes more manageable. But we have to talk about Mike McDaniel because his job might be in more danger than Tua’s right now. Look, McDaniel’s in year four. He went 9 and eight during his first year, 11-6 during his second year, then eight- n last year, and now they’re 1-6 this year. That’s a clear downward trend. And all the stuff that made him look like a genius in 2022 and 2023, it’s not working anymore. The offensive scheme that was putting up video game numbers, it’s been figured out. Miami’s 21 personnel package, which was a huge part of their success, completely fell apart last year, dropping from the fourth best in the league in EPA to dead last. And then there’s the culture issues. Reports from last season said that five players accounted for half of the team’s internal fines for being late to meetings and other infractions. McDaniel’s players coach approach was great when they were winning, but now that they’re losing, it doesn’t feel like he’s got control over the locker room. And honestly, you could just tell based off of listening to this guy giving postgame interviews. Uh uh it just it can’t continue to go on like this. And um it’s already gone on too long. So what happens next? Where do the Dolphins go from here? Realistically, their season’s over. They’re 1-6 and even if they somehow go 10-0 the rest of the way, they’d still probably miss the playoffs. It’s done. So, the question becomes, what do they do with the rest of the season? Option one is stick with Tua and McDaniel, finish out the year, and then blow it up in the offseason, fire McDaniel, maybe fire GM Chris Greer, draft a quarterback high, and start over. Option two is make a change at quarterback in the middle of the season. Give Uers or Wilson some starts to see what you have. Maybe one of them shows something and gives you hope for the future. And option three is make a change at head coach mid-season. Fire McDaniel now and let an interim coach finish out the year. Send a message that this performance isn’t acceptable. I think they’re going with option one. McDaniel gets the rest of the season because ownership doesn’t want to look impulsive. Tua keeps starting because they’re paying him $53 million and there’s no better option. And then in January they clean house and start fresh. The wild card is their owner Steven Ross. Reports say that he’s been frustrated for a while now. If the Dolphins get embarrassed a few more times, like another 31-6 type of loss, Ross might decide that he can’t wait until January to make a change. As for Tua, I think he’s the starter through the end of this season. But in the offseason, Miami absolutely should draft a quarterback. Even if they can’t cut Tua because of the contract, they need to create some competition. Bring in a rookie and tell Tua that this is your last shot. And if you don’t get it together, we’re moving on. Because here’s the thing, Tua is 27 years old. He’s in year six. At some point, you are who you are. And right now, Tua looks like a guy who needs everything around him to be perfect in order to succeed. Perfect offensive line, perfect weapons, perfect scheme, perfect weather. And when any of those things aren’t perfect, he completely falls apart. I’ve been very critical about my Dallas Cowboys throughout my entire career doing sports commentary. I’ve been critical about the amount that they paid Dak Prescott. I’ve been critical about their playoff performance. But I will say this, at least when you have Dak Prescott under center, CD Lamb could go out and you still are in games. Ezekiel Elliott could leave the team or become washed and you’re still in games. You could have the worst defense in the NFL and you could still potentially beat a top tier team. Dak Prescott keeps you in games no matter what’s happening around him. It doesn’t matter if he’s playing with a backup offensive line. It doesn’t matter if Tyron Smith leaves for the Jets or Zack Martin retires in the offseason. No matter what the circumstances, Dak Prescott gives you a chance at winning. But in the case of Tua, it seems like everything around him needs to be perfect for the Dolphins to have a fighting chance. And even with a head coach that believes in him, a firstround wide receiver that he went to college with, a top tier tight end, and one of the best running attacks in the game, nothing seems to be working for Tua. So, let me know in the comment section down below if you’re a Dolphins fan. What do you think they should do? Aside from that, I’m your boy Mike, and I’m dropping our mic. Until our next upload.

Go to https://bit.ly/PrizePicksMikerophone or use Promo Code “Mikerophone” to get $50 when you make a lineup of $5 or more!

Get my picks here: https://whop.com/checkout/plan_H1oLSdEU9Egka/?a=mykecheque&d2c=true

Twitter: https://twitter.com/MikerophoneNFL
IG: https://instagram.com/theflightmike
Snapchat: FlightMikeSnap
Support the Channel by becoming a member: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1gkLFIojYo1TGhZM84rZeQ/join
Discord: https://discord.gg/sHexntZpSZ
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@mikerophonenfl

MUSIC BY: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5CEQDOtEb9UftqMWwoJXrL
https://www.instagram.com/winterfreshmusic/