Mike McDaniel explains why the Miami Dolphins picked Tua Tagovailoa’s fifth-year option in March

Mike McDaniel and the Miami Dolphins were contemplating quarterback Tua Tagovailoa’s fifth-year option on Feb. 28 — how quickly things can change.

The franchise officially announced Tagovailoa’s fifth-year option on March 27. The Dolphins didn’t publicize the fifth-year option for Christian Wilkins until April 28.

Miami had until May 1 to reach a verdict on Tagovailoa’s option, but a decision had already been made.

“That’s something that like everything else that we do, we’re assessing all the pros and cons for really the organization and once we determined really the bottom line. The bottom line procedure was like, ‘Alright, well, the scenario of picking up the fifth-year option gives Tua the best chance to be his best and is the best thing for the organization.’ That’s what we’re really chasing,” McDaniel said while talking to the media on Monday. We’re chasing that – where both parties maximized an opportunity. So once we knew that – I hadn’t really paid attention to the fifth-year option timeline.

“It was more like, ‘All right, well, you know what, especially the media members that are in South Florida, they need to know this. We need to tell them this fifth your option is…’ I mean, once we knew we knew, so that way I didn’t have to play unnecessary poker face for no reason. We knew once we did our due diligence in our process, it made a ton of sense to us, so we wanted to communicate and get that done and move forward with our lives.”

Tagovailoa, 25, will have a salary cap number of $23,171,000 in 2024 while on the fifth-year option of his rookie contract.

“He’s had a really good offseason with his family and training and positioning himself to feel good moving forward,” McDaniel told NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero at the league’s annual meeting. “He’s very healthy, vibrant, and I can see a hunger in him that I’m excited to watch play out.”