McDaniel Believes Tua Calling Out Tyreek Was Needed For Them to Mend Relationship

A couple of weeks ago, Tua Tagovailoa more or less laid into Tyreek Hill and his decision to exit the Jets game at the end of last season before telling the media that he was “out” of Miami in a post-game interview.

The moment in my mind showed that Tua had grown as a leader, speaking not only for himself but also for the other members of the Dolphins organization that he felt Hill had let down. For those who don’t remember what Tua said, here is a transcript. 

“He’s conversing a lot more with the guys, not just about football, but things off the field, being vulnerable with some of the things people know about his personal life and things of that nature.” He said. “I think that’s the first step to him building true relationships and connections with the guys in there… Everyone makes mistakes, but some people are in the spotlight, and their deals get pushed out more than others, so you know you just have to cut them some grace… When you say something like that you don’t just come back from that with ‘hey my bad’ you gotta work that relationship up, you gotta build everything up again.” 

That quote expectedly made the rounds, and not everyone came to the same conclusion as I did in my previous article. Many worried that the words were too harsh and perhaps that Hill would take them in a way that would drive a wedge between the quarterback and wide receiver.

The worry isn’t entirely unfounded. Hill has shown that he can be a bit temperamental, highly talented, but potentially explosive, both on and off the field.

In a way, I understand the concern. He is the best offensive weapon the Dolphins have, and fans don’t want to see the boat rocked and Hill abandon ship if it can be avoided. 

Earlier this morning, Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel joined Rich Eisen, and the veteran television and radio host wasted no time in bringing up the subject of the quote and questioning if it had, in fact, caused a divide within the locker room. McDaniel answered in his typically long-winded and meandering style, which I have attempted to clean up for clarity and brevity. 

“If you’re trying to be great at anything, if you’re trying to be better at things, if you’re trying to evolve, if you want your team to be better, if you’re trying to be a better leader I think that was something that at that point, to the credit of the conversation that the two men were working on a relationship,” He said. “I think that both parties were both kind of tired and just over the semantics of it these are people that are working their relationship. I think the power in that is both of the players are like most relationships, you learn and you grow and when you invest you go through whatever but the relationship becomes more real, so I thought it was a maturation of Tua as a leader of the team and also I think it speaks to how healthy they are because there haven’t been that many opportunities for the public to see them interact but as the time passes you’ll see a more connected relationship.” 

Eisen followed up asking if McDaniel felt the matter was put to bed, to which McDaniel responded. 

“It’s a tipping point for evolution so I think it matters in the way that they’re approaching it as a source of mending a relationship that needed to be mended. “ 

It seems that McDaniel believes in direct communication. There’s a time for sugarcoding and a time for accountability. We’ll have to wait and see how the season plays out to understand if this direct approach was the correct one, but as the old adage goes, Winning cures everything.

A particularly applicable quote, as if the Dolphins don’t win this season, then Tua, Hill, and McDaniel could all be employed elsewhere sooner than later.