Mike McDaniel’s heartfelt belief in Dolphins’ Tua Tagovailoa has turned him into a deserving MVP candidate

McDaniel pulled out all the stops to give Tagovailoa confidence, and it’s paying off in spades for both.

When he started his career with the Miami Dolphins in 2020, it wasn’t clear that Tua Tagovailoa was long for the NFL. He wasn’t the worst passer and wasn’t outright unplayable the way top-five quarterback picks sometimes are. But, after two underwhelming campaigns — where the criticism from the outside looking in was probably overwhelming — it seemed apparent Tagovailoa wouldn’t reach his potential in South Beach.

Enter one of the NFL’s brighter offensive minds in Mike McDaniel, who took the helm for Miami as head coach this year. Renowned for his forward-thinking playbook, McDaniel’s Xs and Os are undoubtedly part of Tagovailoa’s ascendance to MVP-level play, but they’re not the complete equation. Far from it.

As Tagovailoa detailed after the Dolphins’ 30-15 beatdown of the Houston Texans, it was McDaniel doing the other extremely important (and often overlooked) part of his job as a coach — making his player(s) believe in their ability to become the best version of themselves.

Man, that is something special.

To have someone like McDaniel express more than a working interest in Tagovailoa, to show that he actually cared about him as a player and a person; no wonder Tua has exploded production-wise this year. No wonder the 8-3 Dolphins sit near the top of the AFC as we hit the stretch run of the 2022 season. These two are cruising along, enjoying the game together.

It should be noted that from the same NFL on CBS report, McDaniel pieced together a 700-play highlight reel for Tagovailoa in the offseason to directly illustrate how good he thought the Dolphins’ signal-caller was. Seven hundred plays! That’s an in-depth doctoral thesis on quarterback play, not some run-of-the-mill, everyday film review.

Tagovailoa shared largely the same appreciative sentiments when asked to discuss what McDaniel’s attention to detail meant to him.

From 2020-2021, in 21 starts, Tagovailoa threw for 4,467 yards, 27 touchdowns, and 15 interceptions. Total. His conservative average yards per pass attempt of roughly 6.5 was among the NFL’s lowest and more indicative of a backup quarterback than a top-flight difference-maker. His Expected Points Added (EPA) and Completion Percentage Over Expected (CPOE) composite via RBSDM was 28th (!) in pro football.

In 2022, through just nine starts, Tagovailoa is on pace to almost eclipse 4,000 yards passing and throw for 29 touchdowns. (On a 17-game pace, he would shatter his previous two years combined.) His aggressive nine yards per pass attempt (!) leads the league by far and would be the highest in almost four seasons since Ryan Tannehill averaged 9.6 yards per pass attempt in 2019. Among qualified starters, Tagovailoa’s three thrown interceptions are tied for second-least in the NFL. His EPA and CPOE composite of .218 is the best in the league and is ahead of Patrick Mahomes (.187) — the face of the sport and the man he’s trying to beat out MVP for.

I don’t know how you look at these numbers, how you see the way Tagovailoa conducts himself, and see anything but a Coach of the Year honor in McDaniel’s near future. Yes, the Dolphins experienced a talent resurgence. Yes, they went all-in on competing for the AFC this year, and these were the high expectations. But it’s apparent none of their outstanding play on the field thus far happens without McDaniel building a special bond with his gifted quarterback, who once ran low on confidence.

One of the more common axioms when discussing why NFL teams are successful is that the head coach and quarterback are on the same page.  Without that dynamic in place, you might as well be without a paddle. At the moment, it’s hard to think of more than a handful of duos who are as invested in one another as McDaniel and Tagovailoa. And thanks to their potential Coach of the Year/MVP partnership at head coach and quarterback, the Dolphins are back.

That’s no coincidence.