One of the storylines of the Miami Dolphins’ offseason was the novel plan to help quarterback Tua Tagovailoa combat the concussions that caused him to miss five full games and half of another during the 2022 NFL season.

Tagovailoa worked with a jiu-jitsu instructor to learn to fall more safely, since both of his concussions appeared to occur when the back of his helmet hit the ground.

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When Miami coach Mike McDaniel was asked on Monday how the Dolphins hit on their unique plan, he revealed that Tagovailoa already had put his training into action.

“He got stepped on,” McDaniel said, “and he fell down backwards and completed a backwards somersault. It was pretty sweet.”

Tagovailoa said on Tuesday he had used his training in an incident during a Dolphins’ offseason workout. But it wasn’t as fantastic and dramatic as the coach made it sound.

“I got hit from someone in front of me,” Tagovailoa said. “I have no idea who it was, but I sort of hit a little somersault going backwards, and I flipped backwards. No backflips over here, though.

“But I think to that it was cool to see because now, in a weird way, it’s like the quarterback room cheers when we start to do that. I don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing that we’re doing jiu-jitsu falls.

“But it’s hard to gauge that because that was the first time I’ve done it. It’s hard to gauge it because these guys on the opposite side of the ball have got to stay away from the quarterback. No one can really touch me so the only time you can really put that to use is in a real, live situation game.”

Tagovailoa said he needed more work for the jiu-jitsu falls to become second nature.

“It’s not to where it’s something that’s muscle memory yet for me,” Tagovailoa said. “I don’t think that’ll be something that, you know, becomes muscle memory unless I do it for like a year or two years. And I think that’s for anything.

“You’re very conscious of it. It’s in the back of your mind when you do end up doing it. But it’s not like, ‘Oh, if I’m falling this way. I know exactly how to fall right here’ unless I’m actually thinking of doing it that way, so I’ve just got to continue to work on it and practice it.”

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Tagovailoa missed two games after leaving in the first half of a 27-15 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals on Sept. 29 with a concussion. In that game, Tagovailoa left the field on a stretcher and went to University of Cincinnati Medical Center.

The former Alabama All-American also missed the Dolphins’ final two regular-season games and a 34-31 loss to the Buffalo Bills in the AFC playoffs after entering the NFL’s concussion protocol on Dec. 26, the day after a 26-20 loss to the Green Bay Packers that featured the quarterback throwing three interceptions in the fourth quarter.

In addition to jiu-jitsu lessons to combat the concussions, Tagovailoa also undertook a regime during the offseason that delivered him to Miami’s training camp bigger and stronger.

“A lot more reps with the heavier weights, things like that,” Tagovailoa said. “But everything that I did this offseason entailed to what would keep me on the field for the entirety of the season. We understand that freaky things can happen. It’s football. It’s a physical sport. Not everything that you prepare for is what you’re going to get, so I did the best that I could to get myself ready and prepped for this season as far as injuries go.”

Last season, the Dolphins had an 8-3 record with a healthy Tagovailoa, lost the two games in which he sustained concussions and went 1-4 in the games that he missed.

Miami is working toward its season-opening game against the Los Angeles Chargers on Sept. 10.

Before that the Dolphins have preseason contests against the Atlanta Falcons on Aug. 11, Houston Texans on Aug. 19 and Jacksonville Jaguars on Aug. 26.

Tagovailoa most recently played in a game on Dec. 25. He said he didn’t know if he would play in the preseason.

“I think whatever work we need as an offense, whatever Mike thinks we need, I’m for it,” Tagovailoa said. “Whether I play in all the preseason games, I play in none, I play in one, it doesn’t matter.”

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