After Sunday’s 29-27 loss to the Chargers, Tua Tagovailoa called out unidentified teammates for showing up late, or not at all, to players-only meetings.
In the aftermath, more than a dozen former players and pundits called out Tagovailoa.
“This dude.. the starting QB.. was late to the first team meeting during my three seconds on the Dolphins,” wide receiver DaeSean Hamilton, who spent 16 days with the Dolphins late in the 2022 season, said on X on Sunday night.
Tagovailoa has faced a torrent of criticism from former standout players after saying “we have guys showing up to player-only meetings late, guys not showing up to player-only meetings.”
Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa (1) makes his way back to the locker room after losing their NFL game against the Los Angeles Chargers at Hard Rock Stadium on Sunday, Oct. 12, 2025, in Miami Gardens, Fla. Photo by Matias J. Ocner [email protected]
Some of the reaction on television and social media:
▪ Former NFL MVP Kurt Warner: “Being a pro means you have a standard that you hold yourself accountable to… to blame [someone else] for your lack of professionalism is a cop-out.”
▪ Former NFL MVP Cam Newton: “When are you going to start taking it upon yourself to say I’m going to put up and shut up? What comes from you saying this? You’re reaching. That’s not how you should do it. I don’t like talkative Tua. If you are checking everyone’s attendance in [a] players-only meeting, what does that say about the highest-paid player on that team [Tagovailoa]?”
▪ Former first-team All-Pro receiver Dez Bryant: “What part of this he’s going to take accountability for… I don’t respect it… I guarantee a lot of the players don’t respect Tua. Tua points the finger and literally has four pointing back at him.”
▪ Former four-time All-Pro offensive lineman Mitchell Schwartz: “I promise that the guys who are either late to or no-show a players-only meeting do not care about Tua saying what he said today without naming them directly. That’s the point in all this; you’re not holding anyone accountable because you aren’t naming them. You’re just letting us know the team has no leadership from its players.
“He is the leader of the team. And if he thinks this is showing leadership and calling them out, it’s not. He’s not mentioning who they are so there’s zero accountability and they’re likely laughing at him for telling on himself.”
▪ Former two-time All-Pro offensive lineman Andrew Whitworth: “Woof… That’s on you bud.”
▪ Former two-time All-Pro running back LeSean McCoy: “They don’t respect Tua… This is why the Dolphins can’t win the big games. This is why, because our leader can’t be a leader, our leader can’t be real.”
▪ Former NFL safety (and NBC analyst) Devin McCourty: “I hated every bit of that. I played in New England with Bill Belichick and Tom Brady and Coach Belichick used to talk about, when you have true leadership, it doesn’t need to be talked about.
“So, if there’s a problem, Tua, you’re a captain of this team, you’re the quarterback. Go handle it. Don’t sit there in front of a camera and talk to media members about guys messing up. Get in the locker room, call those guys out by name. If confrontation happens, that happens sometimes, but I think to come and air out your dirty laundry and let everybody know that there’s a problem — we know there’s a problem, you’re not winning football games. Go fix it in-house. Handle it that way. I think that’s true leadership.”
▪ ESPN analyst and former NFL safety Ryan Clark: “I don’t like talkative Tua…. It’s OK to talk. But there should be a Tua Tagovailoa Miami Dolphins interview rule; you can only talk about yourself. Whatever you feel about yourself and the way you do your job, that’s what I want you to talk to people about.
“When they ask you why is this team is struggling.. You can say you know why this team is struggling? I threw three interceptions. You know why this team is struggling? We had an opportunity against New England late in the game.. and I threw an interception. You know why this team is struggling? We are down seven points to the Bills and I get intercepted by Terrel Bernard, and here’s what I’m going to do to fix it. But when you.. end the game with an interception, and you talk about everybody else that’s deflecting. That’s when you have no answers or solutions.”
▪ Former NFL defensive lineman and ESPN analyst Chris Canty: “That tells you what the rest of the locker room thinks about Tua’s leadership… This is what the Miami Dolphins team thinks of Tua the leader, and Tua the player.”
▪ Former NFL defensive lineman Emmanuel Acho: “You can’t really follow the QB because the QB’s now dry snitching. They’re not showing up because they don’t respect you Tua. They’re not showing up because they don’t believe in you Tua.”
Some former players were more forgiving of Tagovailoa’s comments.
“I see players that have had enough,” ESPN’s Tedy Bruschi said. “This is Tua saying I’ve had enough, I need help and I’m not getting it from [McDaniel].”
In his defense, Tagovailoa took some accountability after the game.
“We got to look at the film again, we got to see where we can go,” he said. “I contributed to a lot of that as well with the three turnovers. You can’t do that and expect to win games.”
The Dolphins (1-5) play at 1-5 Cleveland on Sunday (1 p.m., CBS 4).
Here is my Monday piece with notes and nuggets by position, and details on changes in playing time.
This story was originally published October 13, 2025 at 11:23 AM.
Barry Jackson
Miami Herald
Barry Jackson has written for the Miami Herald since 1986 and has written the Florida Sports Buzz column since 2002.
