Tua Tagovailoa’s mind is made up on the subject of Dolphins tight end Jonnu Smith.
Miami’s franchise quarterback says to pay the man.
“Oh 100%, that’s my guy. That’s my dog. Jonnu has done really good for us. I have nothing bad to say about him. I love him as a person, too, outside of football. I think all of our guys that do what they need to do, they should get paid,” Tagovailoa said Tuesday from the Dolphins‘ mandatory minicamp in Miami Gardens.
Smith has been the subject of trade fodder throughout the past several weeks as he jockeys with Miami’s front office for a reworked contract. The 29-year-old is coming off a career season in which he hauled in 88 passes for 884 yards and eight scores.
Smith is entering the final year of his two-year, $8.4 million contract that he signed with Miami ahead of last season. As the eight-year NFL vet angles for a new deal, Smith also made the decision to sit out of the Dolphins’ mandatory minicamp.
Tagovailoa understands the business of professional football and said that whatever negotiations are happening between Smith, Smith’s representation and the Dolphins’ front office are between those parties and not between he and Smith. Or, between Smith and the rest of the Dolphins’ roster.
“I look at it as the conversations are between the team and their agent, not between me and the team if you will. There’s a lot of things that are going to happen throughout the process, and if you really tap in to listening to what your agent is going to tell you or what your agent has to say.
“First off, you don’t really know if they’re telling you the truth. Even if you’re paying them, you don’t know that, and you don’t know what side they are playing. Do they want to please you? Are they telling you the truth? All of that, are they trying to rile you up so that you say something to the team? I would say that’s one of those things all you can do is work. You let those guys handle the business, and if it sounds right to you when it comes back, then it sounds right. If not, you continue to work through that,” Tagovailoa said.
Miami wide receiver Tyreek Hill has also been working his way back from an offseason wrist surgery. Hill’s wrist surgery and Smith’s contract situation hasn’t kept Tagovailoa from getting reps in with the duo during this offsesaon.
“The thing with ‘Reek, he can’t catch, but he can sure run his routes, and we’ve still been getting reps that obviously aren’t throws to him, but reps on air where I can still work on my footwork as he’s timing out his routes and doing things of that nature. I’ve got to throw with Jonnu a couple of times outside the facility, so that’s how we’ve been working together, too,” Tagovailoa said.
Time will tell whether or not Smith and the front office can strike a deal to keep him in South Beach. But, for the time being, Tagovailoa has let his stance on the matter be heard.