Tua Tagovailoa goes deep to Tyreek as Mike McDaniel goes deep to encourage his QB | Habib

MIAMI GARDENS — Thursday’s edition in the ongoing story of whether Tua Tagovailoa is or isn’t the answer for the Dolphins centered on his relationship with new coach Mike McDaniel.

Turns out McDaniel has spent a fair amount of time with Tagovailoa building him up.

Tagovailoa has spent a fair amount of time getting used to a coach building him up.

“I’ve never been around a coach like this, who’s just extremely positive,” Tagovailoa said. “Growing up, my dad’s always been hard on me. My high school coach has been hard on me. Coach (Nick) Saban has been hard on me.”

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McDaniel?

“He’s hard, but he takes another alleyway, if you will, on kind of teaching and helping.”

When McDaniel addressed reporters moments earlier, he acknowledged that Tagovailoa had an off day Wednesday, the first day of mandatory minicamp. Thursday was a different story. When Tyreek Hill slipped behind the defense early in 11-on-11 drills, Tagovailoa hit him with a ball that traveled an estimated 45 yards through the air. Better yet was a later connection cutting through an estimated 51 yards of June humidity.

“Today was the first day I got to really evaluate Tua because that is a professional quarterback in the National Football League,” McDaniel said.

Yes, but … McDaniel is aware that a professional quarterback in the National Football League (and, by extension, a quarterback’s coach) don’t get to cherry pick which Sundays count more than others. While Thursday was a step in the right direction, there’s no getting around Wednesday was not. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

Let's not go overboard in June, shall we?

Last I checked, it’s June. When it comes to Tagovailoa, there were two takeaways to take away from this week. And really, only two:

· First, McDaniel is taking a kid-gloves approach with Tagovailoa that Brian Flores didn't.

· Second, we can at least close the book on whether Tagovailoa has the arm to fling one 50 yards downfield. He can. Don’t get too wrapped up in the fact that he won’t want to try that often; the salient point here is that kind of arm strength will be required on intermediate throws that must have the zip to reach Point B before defensive backs do.

“I don’t know if you guys recorded that last one to Tyreek,” Tagovailoa told reporters, who aren’t permitted to tape.  “But pssh. I don’t know about you, but that looked like money.”

McDaniel, too, couldn’t resist a poke.

“So you’re saying there was a good deep ball today?” he said. “Were you pretty confident that it would be completed?”

Now that we can all agree on at least 50, we can get back to this intriguing glimpse inside the coach-quarterback relationship, details of which Flores steadfastly guarded as a state secret.

Tua Tagovailoa describes Mike McDaniel as ‘Swaggy'

“Swaggy.” That was a word Tagovailoa used for McDaniel. Thankfully, it was an adjective, not a nickname.

“I call him Mystic Mac,” Tagovailoa said. “Just like Conor McGregor. This dude, he loves to predict stuff. So call him Mystic Mac. But the respect that he has in the locker room is tremendous. The guys love him.”

The Mystic Ruler himself said inside the facility, the feeling is Tagovailoa appears to be “opening up,” which McDaniel takes as a sign that Tagovailoa is better equipped to handle the pressure associated with being a franchise quarterback.

“I think his teammates have really noticed a difference in him,” McDaniel said. “He’s opening up. He’s kind of coming into his own in that regard. He’s unbelievably coachable. He’s let his guard down.”

(Quick word of caution: If this has a familiar ring, it’s because we heard similar talk last offseason. Did that lead to a breakout year? The playoffs? Much tangible change? It did not.)

Turns out McDaniel has been coaching Tagovailoa out of his shell, too.

“That’s just something that Mike would always get me to do, is just open up to him, in the hallway or in the meeting room,” Tagovailoa said. “He’d just pop in. When I’m lifting, he’ll just want to chat, every opportunity he got. And so, I ended up opening up a little bit to him.”

Not just him.

“I would say the way I am, the way I share things with him a little, is sort of similar to the way I share things with the guys in the locker room.”

Tagovailoa has always been guarded

For Tagovailoa, this requires work. He admitted he considers himself guarded.

“I’ve always been like that, ever since high school,” Tagovailoa said. “I’m just not one to, ‘Hey, we’re friends!” after (just) shaking hands. I’ve got to really get to know you.”

It’s a coach’s job to recognize that every player has different buttons that must be pushed to get results. Now that McDaniel believes he has found Tagovailoa’s, it’s his job to push them. For his part, Tagovailoa tried to downplay the impact one approach vs. another has on him.

“I’ve been playing football for so long to where the standard has been set for me at such a young age with the way my dad, you know, has kind of coached me,” Tagovailoa said. “And then even at the college setting, you know, I was more afraid of what my dad would have to tell me after the game than Coach Saban. And it still is a little like that, you know, in the NFL.

“But for me, it's just I have it embedded in my in my mind that regardless of how another coach feels about the way I practice, or how I play, I know what I’m capable of doing.”

Hal Habib covers the Dolphins for The Post. Help support our journalism. Subscribe today.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Mike McDaniel believes positive approach is best with Tua Tagovailoa