Tua Tagovailoa on Ryan Clark: Would Appreciate It If You Kept My Name out Your Mouth

Tua Tagovailoa didn't take too kindly to recent remarks made by ESPN NFL analyst Ryan Clark about his physique.

Clark, who played 13 seasons in the NFL from 2002 to '14, said in a segment on NFL Live earlier this week that Tagovailoa looked like he "wasn't in the gym" much during the offseason and his body looks "thick."

Asked about those comments after Wednesday's practice, the Miami Dolphins quarterback said he "would appreciate it if you kept my name out your mouth."

Clark has extensive experience about conditioning the body to play football. It's plausible he saw some things physically from Tagovailoa in Miami's preseason win over the Houston Texans on Saturday that set off some alarm bells, but no one with the Dolphins seems concerned.

Tagovailoa has been open about spending this offseason trying to get bigger in order to better protect himself from injuries. He told reporters early in training camp he gained 10 pounds of muscle and is now 227 pounds.

"Just a lot of heavier weights, a lot more reps with the heavier weights, things like that," Tagovailoa said of his offseason training regimen. "But everything that I did this offseason [involved] what would keep me on the field for the entirety of the season.

"We understand that freaky things can happen. You know, 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, you know, to get myself ready and prepped for this season, as far as injuries."

Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel doesn't seem to think his quarterback was out of shape.

"He really took his training on his body serious this offseason for a multitude of reasons," McDaniel told reporters on Aug. 3. "And I've seen various things where he has a little more short-area explosiveness, where you're able to manipulate yourself in the pocket at a more explosive rate."

When Tagovailoa was coming into the NFL three years ago, he weighed in at 217 pounds during the scouting combine.

Durability has been a concern for Tagovailoa dating back to his time at Alabama. His final season in 2019 was cut short after nine games due to a dislocated hip suffered in a win over Mississippi State.

Tagovailoa has missed a total of nine games over the past two seasons. The 25-year-old suffered multiple concussions last season that led him to consider retiring from football.