Tua Tagovailoa wants to make sure his family stays safe, so after one of his cars was broken into about a year ago, the Miami Dolphins’ quarterback decided to hire personal security.
“(It was) a little too close for my comfort with my family being in the house,” Tagovailoa said on Wednesday. “So we got personal security to take care of all of that. When we’re on the road, we’ve got someone with my wife, got someone also at the house, surveying the house.”
Tagovailoa spoke a few days after the home of Cincinnati quarterback Joe Burrow was broken into while the Bengals played a Monday night game at Dallas. He mentioned that his security team is armed, saying, “so I hope that if you decide to go to my house, you think twice.”
Burrow’s home was the latest in a series of break-ins at pro athletes’ homes in the U.S. This includes the homes of Kansas City Chiefs players Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce. Both Mahomes’ and Kelce’s homes were burglarized in October, leading the NFL to send a security alert to teams and the players’ union. The memo warned that organized groups were increasingly targeting the homes of pro athletes for burglaries.
Authorities said these groups tend to target homes when the athletes are away for games. Players were advised to take extra precautions and use home security measures to lower the risk of being robbed.
Tagovailoa has had personal security in place long before this recent string of break-ins. Although no one was hurt in the break-in at Burrow’s house, it was ransacked, according to a report from the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office.
In the NBA, Milwaukee Bucks forward Bobby Portis had his home broken into on November 2, and Minnesota Timberwolves guard Mike Conley Jr.’s home was also robbed on September 15 while he was at a Minnesota Vikings game.
Portis offered a $40,000 reward for information, and the NBA later sent out a memo saying that the FBI has linked some of these burglaries to “transnational South American Theft Groups.”
These groups are reportedly very well-organized and use advanced techniques and technologies, such as drones, signal jamming devices, and surveillance to plan their burglaries. Some of these groups have been known to follow their targets, including attempting home deliveries or pretending to be maintenance workers or joggers in the neighborhood.
Tagovailoa, who signed a contract extension with the Dolphins last offseason, said he doesn’t feel like he’s specifically being targeted, but added, “but I wouldn’t want to play the chances with my family and kids sleeping, my wife sleeping, me sleeping at the house.”
