Tua Tagovailoa Struggles in Opening Day of Minicamp

The Miami Dolphins opened its first day of mandatory minicamp today and former Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa reportedly struggled protecting the football. According to Palm Beach Post Reporter Joe Schad and ESPN reporter Cameron Wolfe, Tagovailoa threw five interceptions in a Miami rainstorm to open up the 2021 season.

The Dolphins secondary opened up minicamp without its star cornerback Xavien Howard but that didn't prevent the defense from standing out on the opening day of minicamp. Tagovailoa threw three interceptions during 11-on-11 drills and threw his other two picks during 7-on-7.

"I think today the emphasis for us quarterbacks, we wanted to be aggressive today within the passing game. We wanted to see if we could fit throws in, we wanted to see what throws we could make under these conditions.," said the Dolphins top quarterback. "We were just trying to push the ball vertical down the field, you know there's some plays that didn't go our way but that's plays that we can take a look at in the film room and move forward with."

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Tagovailoa is expected to take a second year step up as the leader of the Dolphins offense. As a rookie the Hawaiian passed for 1814 yards with 11 touchdowns and just five interceptions in 10 games. This season the 'Fins have added his former college teammate, Jaylen Waddle and speedster Will Fuller V to the roster, giving Tagovailoa a much improved receiving core to attack defenses.

Tagovailoa will be highly scrutinized as minicamp continues however the real test will begin once the regular season gets underway. The Miami Dolphins open up the season in Foxboro, MA where they will take on the New England Patriots in a division rivalry game on Sept. 12, 2021.