Tua Tagovailoa’s comments after a 29-27 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers are earning the wrong kind of attention for the Miami Dolphins.
Shortly after the loss, the quarterback revealed that some Dolphins have been late or absent from players meetings. The fact that Miami was even holding players-only meetings was already a bad sign. Half-hearted attendance is much worse.
But it was Tagovailoa’s decision to call out team leadership that has the NFL world talking.
“It starts with the leadership in helping articulate that for the guys, and then what we’re expecting out of the guys,” Tagovailoa said Sunday. “We’re expecting this. Are we getting that? Are we not getting that? We have guys showing up to player-only meetings late. Guys not showing up to player-only meetings. There is a lot that goes into that. Do we have to make that mandatory? Do we not have to make that mandatory? So it’s a lot of things of that nature that we got to get cleaned up.”
Here’s a sampling of the reaction those words received:
Maria Taylor asked Devin McCourty on Football Night in America about Tua’s postgame presser comments.
His response? “I hated every bit of that.” pic.twitter.com/kgdBdsFxPW
— Marisa Marino (@mustbemarisa87) October 12, 2025
I want to know what part of this he’s going to take accountability for..Tua threw three picks today…Tua is third in the NFL with the most interceptions thrown by a quarterback.. If you haven’t said this privately first..then in the media..I don’t respect it. And since we are on… https://t.co/W6V2bczNBl
— Dez Bryant (@DezBryant) October 12, 2025
🎥 LeSean McCoy on Tua Tagovailoa revealing players have been arriving late and not showing up to players only meetings:
“They don’t respect Tua… this is why the Dolphins can’t win the big games, this is why, because our leader can’t be a leader, our leader can’t be real.”… https://t.co/IpW7e3bAaY pic.twitter.com/AVAHTndrbf
— FinsXtra (@FinsXtra) October 13, 2025
Former NFL wide receiver DaeSean Hamilton, who spent two weeks on the Dolphins’ practice squad during the 2022 season, took it a step further and pointed to Tagovailoa’s meeting habits as a problem.
This dude…the starting QB…was late to the first team meeting during my 3 seconds on the Dolphins 😂😂😂😂 and everything was all cool in there https://t.co/SNctzR0oZg
— DaeSean Hamilton (@SkeeterMills__) October 13, 2025
Through six games this season, Tagovailoa has 1,213 passing yards, 11 touchdowns, and seven interceptions.