Ryan Clark apologized to Miami quarterback Tua Tagovailoa on Thursday, the same day that Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel defended the former Alabama All-American against the ESPN analyst’s comments.

On “NFL Live” earlier this week, Clark seemed to question Tagovailoa’s physical fitness and devotion to it during the offseason.

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When asked during his Wednesday press conference about Clark’s comments, Tagovailoa asked Clark to “keep my name out of your mouth” and said he could get “scrappy” if he needed to.

Clark took to social media on Thursday to “deeply apologize” to Tagovailoa. Clark said he understood why Tagovailoa would be offended.

“The constant criticism, the constant scrutiny, constantly being questioned, feeling the stress of always having to prove yourself just to show people you can be available, and then you work throughout the entire offseason … and you got to hear a comment like this, so I get it,” Clark said.

In a video, Clark said what “truly just felt like was a joke to me” had been shown by Tagovailoa’s reaction that it wasn’t to the quarterback and his fans.

Clark said what he considered “a bad joke,” he now considers “a lesson.”

Clark also wrote: “When I decided to do TV, I had two main priorities. 1. Respect all NFL players, coaches, executives and staff members. 2. Earn and keep the respect of those very same people. Those priorities are important to me, and when I miss that mark, I have to hold myself accountable. This game is difficult. Players sacrifice so much to be a part of the 1 percent. I have a responsibility to those players to be thoughtful in the way I present my opinions of them. In joking about Tua Tagovailoa, I didn’t meet that responsibility. It was never my intention to question Tua’s work ethic or commitment to the game, but I’m also aware enough to know that intent doesn’t always match impact. How something is presented isn’t always how it’s received by everyone. I do my best to be honest when executing my job as well as being honest when I fall short. I fell short on Monday, and for that, I genuinely apologize.”

Tagovailoa missed five games last season because of two concussions, and an offseason regimen designed to increase the quarterback’s size and strength and jiu jitsu lessons to improve his agility when being tackled drew a media spotlight.

But Clark said: “Let me tell you what he wasn’t doing: He wasn’t in the gym, I bet you that. He might have spent a lot of time in the tattoo parlor, but he was not at the dinner table eating what the nutritionist had advised. He looks happy. He is thick. He’s built like the girls that work at Onyx in Atlanta right now on the bottom.”

RELATED: TUA TAGOVAILOA TO ESPN ANALYST: ‘KEEP MY NAME OUT OF YOUR MOUTH’

At his Thursday press conference, McDaniel said he could speak about Tagovailoa’s offseason work with “hard facts that I’ve seen with my own eyes,” and because of that, he knew the Dolphins “are getting the absolute best version of Tua that’s existed.”

“It’s been top five on the team,” McDaniel said of Tagovailoa’s offseason. “… And you want to talk about somebody that’s committed to doing what he’s doing for the right reasons, he was already invested before this year, but then taking a bunch of things that have happened, he really put an onus on controlling what he can control, so you want to talk about every metric that Dave Puloka and his strength staff really track, which is pretty much everything to the degree of blinks, every metric of strength that is measured, he shattered his previous highs. In some instances, he’s almost twice as strong, and that’s been a daily commitment that he has never wavered from. He’s taken his nutrition to another level. His commitment to what he’s trying to do and really thought outside the box and really, really worked at it, so I couldn’t be happier with the work that he’s put in and what I’ve factually viewed with my own eyes.”

The Dolphins will conclude their preseason schedule by visiting the Jacksonville Jaguars at 6 p.m. CDT Saturday. McDaniel said he wasn’t sure if Tagovailoa would play.

“My plan has been, in the back of my mind, the starting point was more than a series, less than a half for all the starters,” McDaniel said. “Now that is dependent upon today’s practice. Overall, you’re just trying to prepare guys for the regular season. I had in the back of my mind if all things were even, Tua would play on Saturday, but that’s something I’ll revisit with the coaches after we’ve completed this practice.”

Miami will kick off its regular season on Sept. 10 on the road against the Los Angeles Chargers.

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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.