Has Tua Tagovailoa lost weight during the 2024 offseason?

Aside from his contract status which continues to garner intense speculation, there is another talking point that we’ve seen over the past few seasons when it comes to Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa and that’s his weight.

Tua Tagovailoa has slimmed down

You may recall a viral video from last offseason that showed Tua Tagovailoa had put on some significant muscle mass. This offseason has brought us a decidedly different scenario from Miami’s signal caller in that he’s done the opposite i.e., he’s seemingly dropped quite a few pounds. Yet, according to the Dolphins, it’s all part of the plan.

“That was a big year this past season for Tua, being able to play the entirety of it at the professional level as well as having two years in a row with the same offense and play caller,’ head coach Mike McDaniel said when asked about Tua’s recent weight loss. “That’s something that we directly relate - him and I - in terms of looking for those competitive advantages, so I think he identified that as one for himself and has - I think the results speak for themselves. He’s svelte.”

As the account goes, the franchise asked Tagovailoa to bulk up last offseason after he’d suffered several concussions during the 2022 season. The logic behind the choice was that with more weight on his frame, the chances of him being thrown to the ground would decrease, thereby diminishing the possibility of the type of rag-doll hits that led to his concussions. In addition to the 2022 weight loss program, it’s also understood that the 26-year-old trained in Jiu-Jitsu in an effort to learn how to fall with more equilibrium. Indeed, both the team and the player acknowledged a marked improvement but felt more could be done.

That of course brings us to the present where those around him have said he’s in the best shape of his life. To be clear, Tagovailoa was asked to drop from 235 pounds to 220 pounds and so he did. When considering that he finished the 2023 season with 4,624 passing yards, 29 touchdowns, and 14 interceptions while completing 68.3% of his passes, one has to wonder where he will go from here. Even more so when factoring in the idea that his release of 2.32 seconds was the fastest in the NFL.

Ultimately, it will be interesting to see how Tagovailoa and the Dolphins move forward as he enters what is his fifth season in the NFL. On one side, it’s clear that the season in which he weighed the most was also the one in which he was the healthiest, evidenced by the fact that he didn’t miss a game. On the other, the Dolphins appear to be interested in evolution by seemingly adding a new dynamic to a quarterback that we can describe as more of a pocket passer than a dual threat. Is that about to change? Who can say but what’s certain is that weight loss in that regard, can’t hurt. “I think just being more twitchy and elusive in the pocket. He will never be a runner but [it’s about] extending plays a little more,” a Dolphins source said. “It’s a delicate balance, though, because he needs to stay healthy.”