Tagovailoa calls Brady-Dolphins tampering talk ‘all noise’

Tua Tagovailoa is pushing all of the talk surrounding the Miami Dolphins’ interest in Tom Brady to the side. 

As his team practices with Brady’s Buccaneers ahead of their preseason game, Tagovailoa noted that he’s the team’s starting quarterback – not Brady.

“Yeah, I mean, I’m still here,” Tagovailoa told reporters Wednesday. “To me, that’s all noise at this point.”

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If the Dolphins had their way, Tagovailoa might not “still” be their quarterback. Earlier in August, an NFL investigation found that the Dolphins had impermissible conversations with Brady in 2019 and 2021. Those conversations, plus the impermissible conversations they had with Sean Payton, caused the Dolphins to lose two draft picks. Owner Stephen Ross also received a $1.5 million fine and is suspended through Oct. 17. Dolphins vice chairman and limited partner Bruce Beal received a $500,000 fine and won’t be able to attend league meetings for the entire 2022 season. 

Tagovailoa, whom the Dolphins drafted in the first round of the 2020 NFL Draft, noted last week that part of the team’s discussions with Brady occurred before he was even in Miami. 

“I’m still here, and I’m blessed to be here,” Tagovailoa said last week. “If it has to do with support from the team, I think the team’s all-in with me and all the guys that we have now.”

Brady hasn’t spoken with the media yet since the league announced the findings of its investigation of the Dolphins on Aug. 2. He spoke with Tagovailoa during Wednesday’s joint practice, though. 

“We were talking on the side for a good bit,” Tagovailoa said. “He asked me how my offseason was. We were talking a little about golf at the same time.

“For the most part, 23 years playing, that’s a long time, that’s a lot of knowledge, so I was asking him some things and he gave me some good insight. But I’ll keep that between me and Tom. And if you guys want to ask Tom, go ask him.”

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Like his quarterback, first-year Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel expressed a desire to move past the tampering talk, too.

“For me, nothing happened,” McDaniel said. “Everyone else is the one making it awkward. It doesn’t occupy a single iota of space with anybody. It’s hard enough to be good in this league.”

Brady’s Buccaneers will play host to Tagavailoa’s Dolphins in their respective preseason openers on Saturday.