What McDaniel Said (And Didn't Say) Reflecting on Tua's 2025 Season

Miami Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel said he didn't know some of the answers regarding his quarterback

Miami Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel and quarterback Tua Tagovailoa (1) stand on the sideline against the New England Patriots during the second quarter at Hard Rock Stadium. | Sam Navarro-Imagn Images

As the Miami Dolphins prepare for their 2025 finale, head coach Mike McDaniel was asked Wednesday to reflect on the biggest decision he made all season — benching quarterback Tua Tagovailoa.

McDaniel added some details to the decision to go with rookie seventh-round pick Quinn Ewers for the final three games after the team was eliminated from playoff contention, repeating the call was made to play the quarterback he felt gave the team the best chance to win every week.

McDaniel touched Wednesday on a few Tua-related topics, including whether he thought about benching him earlier, what caused his accuracy to dip and whether he can regain some arm strength, among others.

As should have been expected, McDaniel didn’t have all the answers because, as he pointed out, then some of the issues would have been fixed before the need to make a change.

WHY NO BENCHING EARLIER

McDaniel replaced Tagovailoa after a game where his starting quarterback, ironically enough, had a 113.2 passer rating, though that was accumulated with a lot of fourth-quarter work after the Dolphins got down 28-3.

Tagovailoa had some rough outings before that, but McDaniel said he didn’t really consider making the switch before he did.

“I was very candid about that whole process,” McDaniel said. “When I thought that someone else gives us a better chance to win, like, I see it as my absolute. That's what I have to do. That's my position. That's my decision to make. And when I got there, that's when I made the decision. But we're working through whatever during the season, trying to win football games, and when it became clear that there is another available player that I thought gave us a better chance. That's that's when I thought about it and did it.”

While McDaniel and Tua have been linked since the former became head coach in 2022 and experienced success in their first two years together, McDaniel said personal feelings had to be set aside when he made his decision because that’s part of his job, adding that maybe he would reflect on that aspect after the fact.

McDaniel did express some respect about how Tua has handled his demotion.

“I think in the whole process he’s gotten a chance to really show people who he is, that although he has his personal feelings, and I'm sure he could talk at length about, he's also very understanding of the captain leadership role. He's not just thinking about his own experience, he's trying to assist and help all all parties and be a good teammate. I think he's shown his true supporting colors. The situation is not easy for anybody. He's taken advantage of the adversity, opportunity that has been bestowed in front of him.”

WHY DID TUA REGRESS?

When he was benched, Tagovailoa had an 88.5 passer rating, a significant drop after he topped the 100 mark the past three seasons.

The specific numbers that stood out include Tagovailoa’s completion percentage going from a league-best 72.9 in 2024 to 67.7, his interception rate going from 1.8 to 3.9 percent, and his bad throw percentage (per Pro Football Reference) going from 11.5 to 15.9 percent.

McDaniel was a lot to explain what specifically caused Tua’s regression.

“I think there's compounding variables at large that I tried to have the answer for,” McDaniel said. “That's my job, is to try to fix stuff. And if I had that answer, I would have employed it. I think there's certain times it's one of the reasons I said it might be better for all parties to have him as the emergency third and each and every day, I think he's at work trying to figure out how to play his game the way he wants to. But for me, I try to provide solutions. I'll go to the end of the earth for that. And I think if I had that answer, the situation wouldn't be the way it played out.”

Of course, one thing that McDaniel didn’t mention — nor should he be expected to mention — is that Tua’s really high completion percentage in 2024 also was accompanied by the lowest numbers in the NFL for both intended air yards per attempt and completion (according to Pro Football Reference).

His figures in each category were slightly higher in 2025 and the accuracy decreased, as did his arm strength.

But McDaniel said there’s nothing to keep Tua from regaining some velocity.

“I think that is something that I've been around in terms of players going through various things, whether that be injury or technique adjustment,” McDaniel said. “There's a lot of stuff that that guys do in the offseason, and you can't just assume, but you put in the work, and they do things the right way with the right intentionality, and I've seen, you know, 10 yards and whatever the metric that you'd use for velocity, whether it's pronation or just straight velocity, I've seen it change drastically in one offseason over time. There's a lot of biomechanics into throwing, and it's ground up, and it involves your whole body, not just your arms, so that is a formula that's unique to each player.”

McDaniel referenced former San Francisco 49ers QB Nick Mullens as somebody whose arm strength made a clear jump from one season to the next.