Dolphins’ Tua Tagovailoa’s biggest change heading into 2024 season? ‘He’s more vocal.’

It has been consistently repeated since training camp.

“He’s much more talkative, really does a good job of telling us what we want, what he wants and just leading the guys,” Jaylen Waddle said in late August.

“He has a vision for this offense, he has a vision for himself, and to have the confidence to go out and say that and speak it and have great conversations, great communication — it’s not just the huddle,” Alec Ingold said Monday. “It’s the locker room. It’s the training room. It’s the weight room.”

“He’s more vocal in the huddle, he’s more vocal in the locker room, he’s vocal everywhere,” Tyreek Hill said Monday. “Like everywhere I walk inside of this building you’re going to hear Tua [Tagovailoa] mouth like to the point where I’m like, ‘I wish you’d shut up now.’ He’s been great, though.”

As Tagovailoa gears up for his fifth season, it’s clear that a lot has changed since his first day as a member of the Miami Dolphins. He has a coach who is more supportive, a new $212 million contract and better weapons. The result — a more confident quarterback.

“A lot of the guys know who I am off the field,” Tagovailoa said Wednesday afternoon, later adding that he is now “feeling more comfortable bringing my personality onto the playing field.”

Even coach Mike McDaniel can’t help but notice the change in his franchise quarterback.

“You know when a team believes in their quarterback,” McDaniel said Wednesday afternoon. That is the case now more than ever as Tagovailoa has let more of his personality show, the third-year head coach continued, adding that the former Alabama quarterback has achieved a rare balance between making “sure we are on our business” while “being able to make fun of Jaylen Waddle’s shoes.”

“Guys can feel his confidence level,” McDaniel added. “It’s just real. He’s more confident because he has more confidence.”

Although Tagovailoa said he hasn’t specifically tried to be more vocal, it certainly helps to have the faith of his head coach. The fractured relationship between him and his former coach Brian Flores has long since been documented but recently resurfaced during his appearance on “The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz.”

“If you woke up every morning and I told you that you suck at what you did, that you don’t belong doing what you do, that you shouldn’t be here, that this guy should be here, that you haven’t earned this,” Tagovailoa told Le Batard. “And then you have somebody else come in and tell you ‘Dude, you are the best fit for this. You are accurate. You are the best whatever. You are this. You are that.’ How would it make you feel listening to one or another?”

Added Tagovailoa: “If you have a terrible person that’s telling you things you don’t want to hear or that you probably shouldn’t be hearing, you’re going to start to believe that about yourself.”

Tagovailoa’s stats with McDaniel at the helm certainly reinforce his point. In two seasons with McDaniel, Tagovailoa has thrown for more than 8,100 yards with 54 touchdowns and 22 interceptions. The 2023 season was particular noteworthy as he led the league in passing yards (4,624) on the most potent offense in football and earned his first Pro Bowl selection. To add further context, Tagovailoa threw for more yards and had more passing touchdowns in 2023 than his entire two-year tenure under Flores.

“I think we’ve both grown together, becoming more vocal with each other and our guys that we’re out there with” Tagovailoa said of McDaniel.

With Tagovailoa and McDaniel both under contract until 2028, Sunday’s season opener against the Jacksonville Jaguars will be the duo’s first time to build upon their previous success. Expectations are high — “I think we’re certainly a contender for the Super Bowl,” Dolphins owner Stephen Ross told CBS on Aug. 17 — yet Tagovailoa appears as hungry as ever.

“That’s how you got to come into the season every year,” Tagovailoa said. “You’ve got to come in with something to prove every time. Everyone else is. The rookies are. The 17-year vets are.”