The Dolphins have had a hectic offseason, which included an NFL investigation that confirmed the franchise was interested in quarterback Tom Brady in 2019 and ’21. Despite tampering, the team ultimately did not sign Brady, drafting Tua Tagovailoa in the ’20 NFL Draft instead.
Three years later, Tagovailoa remains Miami’s quarterback despite the team’s public interest in other quarterbacks. At the Dolphins’ joint practice with the Buccaneers, Tagovailoa downplayed what the Brady talk means to him.
“Yeah, I mean, I’m still here,” Tagovailoa said, via ESPN’s Marcel Louis-Jacques. “To me, that’s all noise at this point.”
This wasn’t the first time the Dolphins quarterback had to address the team’s former interest in Brady, as Tagovailoa previously mentioned he didn’t know much about the NFL’s investigation.
However, Tagovailoa did admit it hasn’t been easy to block out all the noise.
“I would say the only thing that gets frustrating is if you hear it every day or if you see it every day,” he said. “For me, I eliminate all of that. Don’t hear it. Don’t see it. I go home, go to my family, study, wake up the next day, come back and enjoy football. I hear everything obviously from the media and then when (the communications staff) preps me for whatever you guys are going to say, then I’m like, ‘Ah, I’ve got to answer this. All right, let me figure out something politically correct to say.’”
At the joint practice with Tampa Bay, Tagovailoa mentioned he has talked to Brady, but wouldn’t publicize too much of what those conversations were about.
In the NFL’s investigation into the Dolphins, the league found it had “impermissible communications” with Brady in 2019, before Brady reached free agency in ’20, and again while Brady was with Tampa Bay in ’21. The league ultimately suspended Dolphins owner Stephen Ross for tampering and docked the team two draft picks.
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