Tua calls out Dolphins leadership after players are late to meetings

After the Miami Dolphins’ 29-27 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday, quarterback Tua Tagovailoa publicly questioned the team’s leadership and called out players for arriving late to player-only meetings, intensifying scrutiny of a franchise that has won just once in six games. Tagovailoa said the team must address “the little things” about accountability and said the cleanup must begin with leadership articulating expectations for the roster.

“I think it starts with the leadership and helping articulate that for the guys,” Tagovailoa told reporters. “We have guys showing up to player-only meetings late, guys not showing up to player-only meetings. There’s a lot that goes into that. Do we have to make that mandatory? So it’s a lot of things of that nature that we’ve got to get cleaned up.” When asked to clarify whether players were missing meetings entirely or arriving late, he said they were late.

Coach Mike McDaniel said Tagovailoa was referring to a small number of individuals and that the quarterback chose to air the concern publicly in an effort to remedy it. McDaniel has also praised Tagovailoa’s ability to manage external noise and focus on incremental growth as a...