Tua Tagovailoa’s former Miami Dolphins teammate has turned on him after the quarterback’s explosive postgame outburst on Sunday evening.
As the Dolphins’ season continued to spiral with yet another loss to the Los Angeles Chargers at the weekend, Tagovailoa’s frustrations boiled over.
In an exasperated postgame interview, the beleaguered signal caller took aim at his own teammates as he hit out at their allegedly poor meeting attendance and tardiness, rather than his own trio of interceptions in the 29-27 defeat.
But DaeSean Hamilton, who was briefly a member of the Dolphins in 2022, appeared to call out Tagovailoa’s hypocrisy.
‘This dude…the starting QB…was late to the first team meeting during my 3 seconds on the Dolphins,’ Hamilton wrote on X alongside a quartet of laughing emojis as he replied to a video of the quarterback’s comments, ‘and everything was all cool in there.’
Yet, NFL fans on social media were quick to push back on Hamilton’s criticism with many pointing out that he had only been a member of the practice squad during his stint in South Florida.
Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa took aim at the team’s leadership on Sunday
Former Dolphins practice squad member DaeSean Hamilton hit back at the signal caller
The wide receiver was selected by the Denver Broncos in the fourth round, 113th overall, of the 2018 NFL draft.
In 2021, he suffered an ACL tear and was waived by the Broncos with a non-football injury designation.
He was signed by the Houston Texans in March 2022 only to be waived again just three months later before eventually landing with the Dolphins.
Later that year, he signed with Miami’s practice squad but only lasted a few weeks before being released.
Yet, despite the brevity of his time in Miami, Tagovailoa, who was drafted by the Dolphins in the 2020 Draft, clearly left a lasting impression.
The quarterback had taken issue with the team’s leadership, placing the blame for Miami’s latest loss on their shoulders.
‘I think it starts with the leadership and helping articulate that for the guys and what we’re expecting out of the guys,’ Tagovailoa told reporters after the Dolphins fell to 1-5. ‘We’re expecting this, are we getting that? Are we not getting that?’
The team captain then decided to get more specific.
The former wide receiver appeared to accuse Tagovailoa of being a hypocrite in a post on X
Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa (1) talks on the sidelines during Sunday’s loss
‘We have guys showing up to players-only meetings late, guys not showing up to player-only meetings,’ he said. ‘There’s a lot that goes into that. Do we have to make this mandatory? Do we not have to make this mandatory?
‘It’s a lot of things of that nature that we got to get cleaned up. It starts with the little things like that.’
Asked to clarify if teammates are missing player-only meetings entirely or just arriving late, Tagovailoa said it was the latter: ‘Late.’
The Dolphins fell on a last-minute field goal by LA’s Cameron Dicker – his fifth of the game as the Chargers improved to 4-2.
Tagovailoa got help from running back De’Von Achane, who rushed for 128 yards and two touchdowns on 16 carries.
As for himself, Tagovailoa had a rough day under center. He completed 21 of 31 passes for 205 yards and three interceptions, the last of which sealed Miami’s fifth loss of the season.
‘We’ve got to look at the film again, we’ve 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.’
