MIAMI GARDENS — Now, everybody can exhale. Now, we know that the drama everybody was talking about — even though it’s not the thing anybody really wants to talk about — had an ending that triggered smiles all around Sunday.

Attention can turn to Tua Tagovailoa and how far he can take the Miami Dolphins these next four years. And while that makes all the sense in the world, there’s another force at work here that must not be overlooked.

It’s all about coach Mike McDaniel. It’s about how McDaniel did what he said he was going to do, even if (stay with me here) it meant doing the one thing he said he wasn’t going to do.

McDaniel has long said he steers clear of players’ contract negotiations. This allows general manager Chris Grier to do his job while not putting McDaniel in the awkward position of having to side with either the organization or the player.

More: Miami Dolphins' Tua Tagovailoa, contract in hand, embraces expectations, pressure | Schad

But McDaniel also tells players it’s his job to coach them up so they get paid, even if it means getting paid elsewhere.

Mike McDaniel speaks up on Tua Tagovailoa's behalf

There came a time last week when McDaniel decided he could no longer remain on the sidelines. Training camp was heating up as fast as the weather, but his quarterback was holding himself out of drills because talks hadn’t progressed enough.

What did McDaniel do?

“He went to bat for me,” Tagovailoa said.

Anyone could see these two were already tight, rooted in the fact that the Dolphins were ready to cast Tagovailoa aside for either Tom Brady or Deshaun Watson until McDaniel came along and said he thinks he can win with this Tua guy.

McDaniel helped nudge everyone over the finish line, resulting in a $212.4 million deal.

Now look.

Look inside the team facility as Greer and McDaniel are peeking into a meeting room, not saying a word but nodding in a way that told Tagovailoa they knew something he did not.

They want to play that game, Tagovailoa told himself, I can play it, too.

“I’m like, ‘Wait, let me grab my pen,’ ” Tagovailoa recalled thinking. “As a joke.”

Finally, Grier extended his hand. That pen was about to come in handy.

McDaniel won't settle for a handshake

But McDaniel, the instigator in this whole affair, wasn’t settling for any handshake.

“I think I’m of unassuming stature, but when I get enough adrenaline and I’m pretty excited, I can surprise some people with my leverage and my strength and my hug surprised him,” McDaniel said. “I could tell because he spilled his coffee.”

Pretty healthy bearhug, then?

“I basically suplexed him,” said McDaniel, who unbeknownst to us has evidently studied tape of that WWE legend, The Iron Sheik. “ …. Nothing to the ground. It didn’t violate the CBA. We’re good.”

It wasn’t McDaniel who revealed the going-to-bat role in the breakthrough.

“I’ve been told from several birdies that are, you know, in the facility, that are upstairs as well … that he went to bat for me with our owner," Tagovailoa said. "I won’t go into details of things that I heard were said, but just know he is what he says. He says what he told me and he did what I was thinking he would do for me. And not just for me, but for any other player. So I’m very grateful for that.”

More: Miami Dolphins' Tua Tagovailoa contract details revealed

This is where the bigger picture tells the real story here. The real story is the message this reinforces throughout that locker room.

“That he’s on our side,” running back Jeff Wilson said of McDaniel. “You have a lot of coaches, maybe — I haven’t been around it, but it’s a league where you feel like everybody don’t want to pay you or don’t want to get you paid or prolong you. But to see him fight and know that he was fighting for that and know how bad he wanted that for him, that just put a fire in everybody else. Because Mike is for us. So we know he’s going to fight for us, he’s going to push us. Anything we deserve, he’s going to be right there behind us.”

Receiver Braxton Berrios: “You know what it says? Says great things about Mike.”

It says plenty about what Mike thinks about Tua. The other lasting impact, now, is what players will be thinking about a head coach willing to stick his neck out the way Mike McDaniel just did.

Dolphins reporter Hal Habib can be reached at  hhabib@pbpost.com. Follow him on social media @gunnerhal. Click here to subscribe.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Mike McDaniel plays key role in Tua Tagovailoa's deal with Miami Dolphins