Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa has shed a significant amount of weight heading into the 2024 NFL season, according to NFL Network’s Cameron Wolfe.
I’m told Tua Tagovailoa dropped 10-15 pounds — down to 220 pounds, his ideal playing weight this year — seeking more agility/escapability
Here’s why lower weight doesn’t mean more injury concern for Dolphins. Talking Tua w/ @TomPelissero & @judybattista @nflnetwork The Insiders: pic.twitter.com/UL8Bxa9ejJ
— Cameron Wolfe (@CameronWolfe) May 21, 2024
“Down to 220 pounds – from what I understand – dropped 10-15 pounds this offseason already from the 230s where he was last year,” Wolfe said of Tagovailoa. “He wants to be agile, a little bit more escapability from the bulked up version that was in the 230s last year.”
After dealing with injury issues in the 2022 season, Tagovailoa made it a priority to keep himself healthier last season.
Part of that process was bulking up, something that was a priority for him and the Dolphins, but it now appears that Tagovailoa is looking to get down to a more ideal weight to help him be the best version of himself.
“No concern from the Dolphins,” Wolfe said when it comes to Tagovailoa shedding weight. “They saw him play 17 games last year. Last year, the priority was bulking up. They did want him to get as heavy as possible to withstand it. Now, they’ve seen him withstand it. We all talked about the jiu-jitsu last year. They saw a lot of his action from the martial arts turn and avoid some of those falls that led to the concussions previously.
“And so now, the hope is that maybe he can extend a little bit more with a little bit of a slimmer weight. So, they don’t think that this is gonna necessarily make him more fragile because the injuries often happened from him falling backwards, not from him being too small.”
During the 2023 season, Tagovailoa threw for an NFL-leading 4,624 yards. He also completed a career-high 69.3 percent of his passes and threw for a career-high 29 touchdowns.
Even though the Dolphins lost to the Kansas City Chiefs in the first round of the playoffs, they did not have to play a single game without their star quarterback in the 2023 season. That was a major step forward from the previous two seasons when he appeared in just 13 games in each of them.
It’s possible that Tagovailoa could become more mobile after shedding some weight this offseason.
The lefty quarterback hasn’t been much of a runner in his NFL career, rushing for just 381 yards on 136 carries across four NFL seasons. He has scored six rushing touchdowns, but he didn’t score on the ground in the 2022 season or 2023 campaign.
While it’s unlikely that Tagovailoa becomes a running quarterback, it is possible that he will have a greater ability to extend plays with his legs and make passes if he is more agile and weighs less in the 2024 campaign.
For now, Miami is just hoping that the star quarterback can stay healthy and give the team a chance to compete for a Super Bowl this season.
