After concussions caused Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa to miss five games and leave another in the first half during the 2022 season, the former Alabama All-American sought to address the issue in the offseason.

Tagovailoa worked with a jiu-jitsu instructor to improve his agility when being knocked down and added bulk to his frame to deal with hits by defenders. In 2023, Tagovailoa played in every game and led the NFL in passing yards.

This offseason, Tagovailoa is working with a private quarterback coach and, during public appearances at charitable events, has appeared leaner.

“You’ve got to give him all the credit,” Dolphins general manager Chris Grier said during a Tuesday press conference when asked if the team had directed Tagovailoa to get a private coach. “He is, just like last offseason when he attacked to stay healthy and doing the jiu-jitsu or judo, whichever one, but he’s just — watching him work and how he wants to be great, he took all this stuff on his own and told us what he was going to do, so you’ve got to give him all the credit on that. …

“He’s trying to do everything he can to do what he can to be great. And that’s been from Day 1 when (coach) Mike (McDaniel) and him connected here, working through the first season and then making the changes offseason, working through last year, staying healthy, leading the league in passing and now this is his next evolution.

“As Mike has told you guys, we feel like there is a whole other step that he can take, so we’re excited about his future.”

Beyond confirming his work with a QB coach, Tagovailoa declined to talk about his offseason training while meeting with reporters at a luau for the Tua Foundation last week.

“I think, for now, that’s all internal,” Tagovailoa said.

Tagovailoa is scheduled to play the 2024 season on the team option of his rookie contract. Miami picked up its option on Tagovailoa’s four-year rookie contract last offseason to keep him out of free agency this offseason, and it came with a guaranteed salary of $23.171 million for the 2024 campaign.

While the Dolphins have Tagovailoa under contract for 2024, Grier has said the team hopes to work out a long-term deal with the quarterback this offseason.

“I think it’s something that when it happens, it happens,” Grier said about the progress toward a contract extension with the quarterback. “We’ve had communication with him, and I’ll just leave those between the organization and his representation, and it’s been good, so we’ll just keep working towards it. Him and his agent are very understanding that this is now the draft, so he’s letting us focus on that and then we’ll turn our attention to that after the draft finishes.”

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Miami is heading into the 89th NFL Draft on April 25-27 in Detroit with six picks, starting with No. 21.

“Listen, we always look at every position,” Grier said when asked about using a selection on a quarterback. “I would say that’s not somewhere I’m looking at in the first round. It’s not a position that we’ve even talked about. There are some good players, but we’re very happy with Tua and where he is with us. …

“I wouldn’t say we’re not going to draft a quarterback at any point. We took Skylar (Thompson) here in the seventh round (two) years ago. You always look at opportunities for where you can add depth in your roster, so I just think that goes across the board for any position.”

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