For the first time in his college and NFL career, Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa is preparing for a season with the same head coach, offensive coordinator and play-caller as the previous season.

“We feel extremely comfortable coming off of a year having to study, having to get a good feel of how (head coach) Mike (McDaniel) calls plays,” Tagovailoa said on Wednesday. “Get a feel of the guys running the routes and then the concepts and where guys are going to be and the distribution of those. It makes it a lot easier when you can transition from that into this year and not have to learn a new offense.”

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McDaniel said Tagovailoa’s comfort level could be seen on the field.

“The prerequisite is that he, as the quarterback, he has to have ownership of everything he’s doing and what everyone else is doing as the facilitator of the offense,” McDaniel said on Wednesday, “and he’s checked that box every day. It’s been really cool in a year’s time, how he’s not only learned the language, but is now fluent in it. That opens quarterbacks up to doing some of the components of the job. It’s really hard to try to be the leader of an offense and motivate guys and encourage guys when you need to or maybe be hard on guys when you need to when you’re just trying to spit out a play and know your own assignment. So this offseason, hoping that I would see a graduation of sorts, and really have every single day. That’s first and foremost.

“For his game, you’re less concerned about the really good plays. Your attention is less drawn to that, and it’s more about consistency of the entire practice. Just like a game where you can have some – he had his games where he made some big-time plays and then he wasn’t as happy with the rest of the game. So kind of looking at it through that lens, he’s really been one of our more consistent if not — I think he’s been as consistent as anybody day in and day out, which has residual effects to the whole team. I know the team can feel it as well.”

While working on his command of the Dolphins’ offense, Tagovailoa also has spent the offseason working on his body, with practice observers noting the former Alabama All-American looks bigger and stronger as he prepares for his fourth NFL season.

“I’m trying to work on everything,” Tagovailoa said. “As much as I’m trying to work on throwing the ball, getting the ball to the guys, being able to push the ball a lot more downfield, you know, getting in the playbook, I’m doing the same with my body.”

McDaniel said Tagovailoa’s work in that area also is evident on the practice field.

“I think that the major part of it is that he’s put time into his body that I think helps him perform all tasks,” McDaniel said. “It’s funny to reflect on some of the areas of concern, so to speak, when I first got here, or just things that were on my radar of, you know, random people saying, ‘OK, well, he’s young or whatever.’ I didn’t have a complete picture on what type of professional he was. As we stand right now, I mean this dude is everything you’d look for in a starting quarterback in terms of professionalism, how he attends to his job, how seriously he takes it. He takes pride in making sure he does his job, but more importantly, how he makes others better at their jobs.

“All of that can fall on deaf ears if you’re not living it yourself, so I think it’s empowered him to kind of what I was talking about before where he is really owning the position and going about the verbiage of the offense as well as motivating teammates and encouraging them. That probably doesn’t look the same if he didn’t go about his individual work on his body, which has residuals all over the place, so you’re talking his ability to make certain plays is enhanced, his ability to protect himself is enhanced and his ability to communicate and do his job with his teammates is enhanced. I think it affects everything.”

In his first season in McDaniel’s offense, Tagovailoa led the NFL in passer-efficiency rating, rate of touchdown passes and average gain per pass. In 2022, he completed 259-of-400 passes for 3,548 yards with 25 touchdowns and eight interceptions (and three of the interceptions in one quarter came after he sustained his second concussion of the season).

The Dolphins are holding their final practice of their offseason program on Thursday. After that, Miami will break for the summer until gathering for training camp next month. The Dolphins kick off their three-game preseason schedule on Aug. 11 when the Atlanta Falcons visit Hard Rock Stadium.

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