Maybe Tua Tagovailoa checks out Hard Knocks when it features another team. But he’s not looking forward to being a focus of the in-season reality show.
He’s still got a few days to become used to the idea of being one of the stars of Hard Knocks: In Season with the Miami Dolphins. The cameras start invading the lockerroom after the Dolphins play the Chiefs, Nov. 5, in Germany.
Reporters asked Tua Tagovailoa for his reaction to Hard Knocks. And the Dolphins quarterback and former Alabama star paused for almost 12 seconds. “That’s probably my reaction,” he said. So silence. Count on the quarterback meeting the cameras with silence if he’s asked to do anything extra or spicy in front of them.
“For me I’m not going to let any of that affect how I prepare, how I talk in our meetings, with how we want to get things done and what we want to do,” Tagovailoa told reporters this week. “I’m going to be myself and I think the guys are going to do their best to be themselves as well, although it is different when there is a camera there while you’re trying to do something that’s very private.
“I’m sure that our PR team will do their best to help keep a lot of us out of trouble,” the quarterback added.
Hard Knocks can focus on Tua Tagovailoa, a variety of Dolphins
The Dolphins should be a fun team to chronicle. Although they’re coming off a loss to the Eagles, Miami still has a high-flying offense with lots of characters. After all, receiver Tyreek Hill is active on social media and seems to put his entire life on video for the world to see. Then there’s coach Mike McDaniel, the well-dressed, 40-year-old offensive genius with a degree in history from Yale. Jalen Ramsey, who may or may not play this Sunday, already is featured in commercials for the NFL Network.
But Hard Knocks might be a bridge too far for the fiercely private Tua Tagovailoa. This is the guy who got married in July, 2022, in a secret wedding in Florida. When a reporter broke the news two weeks later, Tagovailoa called it “almost disrespectful” and said that he and his new wife wanted to keep their lives off limits. He feels his same way about the team.
“I just like to keep things private in how I do things,” Tagovailoa said. “But this isn’t just about me. This isn’t something that’s for me. This is something for the entire team and the entire team has to figure out how they go about that as well.
“So I know having conversations with some guys in the locker room that for them, it’s going to be tough as well.”
Tua Tagovailoa is far from the only hesitant Dolphin in regards to Hard Knocks. Cornerback Xavien Howard had a more colorful response to the show.
“‘Hard Knocks’ is bull—-, especially during the season,” he said. “No, I’m serious. I’m not a fan.”
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