"I've made a mistake": Tua Tagovailoa changes tune after calling out teammates over Dolphins' player-only meetings

Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa admitted his comments on his teammates’ attitude toward player-only meetings were mistaken. Tagovailoa made the admission during a Wednesday press conference, backtracking on his earlier stance.

The quarterback had called out his teammates following the Dolphins’ loss to the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday. According to him, the Dolphins have:

“Guys showing up to player-only meetings late, guys not showing up to player-only meetings.”

Tua Tagovailoa has received a lot of backlash for the comments, with the Dolphins' head coach, Mike McDaniel, saying:

“Regardless of intent and what was on Tua’s mind, after a loss as the franchise quarterback, that’s not the forum to displace that.”

Accepting his fault at Wednesday’s press conference, Tagovailoa said (5:50):

“The comments that have been said, I would say I’ve made a mistake, and I’m owning up to that right now. I’ve talked to the guys on the team about it. I’ve talked to the leaders about it. They know my heart; they know that the intent was right, but no matter the intent... the intent can be right, but when things get misconstrued or however the media wants to portray it, that leaves a void of silence and a lot of questions for the guys on our team.”

Tua Tagovailoa’s rant and the widening crack in the Dolphins locker room

The Dolphins are struggling this season, with a 1-5 record after six games. The team’s only win this season came against the New York Jets on Sept. 29. There had been concerns in the locker room situation within the franchise prior to Tua Tagovailoa’s media rant.

However, with his rant on Sunday, the crack within the Dolphins’ locker room is beginning to get more obvious. Former NFL running back LeSean McCoy concluded that Miami players do not respect Tagovailoa. Speaking on his show with Emmanuel Acho, McCoy said:

“I hated it. I truly did. I just feel for Tua; it was soft. If you’ve got a problem with your players, address them. You tell it to the media; now everybody in that locker room has to answer to who’s not coming to the player meeting. You’re the quarterback.”

He continued:

“I look at guys like a Baker Mayfield. People are going to show up to only players' meetings because they respect him. They don’t respect Tua. They don’t respect him because you do stuff like this.”

The Cleveland Browns are the Dolphins’ next opponent on Sunday.