For the fourth time in five years, Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa was diagnosed with a concussion. The latest injury came on Thursday night during the team’s 31-10 loss to the Buffalo Bills, as Tagovailoa attempted to pick up a first down with his legs, dove, and collided with Bills safety Demar Hamlin.
After his latest concussion, the calls for Tagovailoa to retire are louder than ever — it got to the point that a current NFL head coach, Antonio Piece of the Las Vegas Raiders, said he should retire and that “it’s not worth it.” But according to Ian Rapoport of NFL Network, the Dolphins signal caller does not intend on going down that road.
From @NFLGameDay: #Dolphins QB Tua Tagovailoa has no plans to retire, sources say. He’s already begun seeing concussion specialists and will continue to do so, but there is no timeline to return. Tua will be back when he and his doctors deem him healthy and ready. pic.twitter.com/Cc6aQI8HcZ
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) September 15, 2024
“Tua Tagovailoa and his doctors will be making the decisions about his playing, his health, they will be driving the process,” Rapoport said. “My understanding is that Tua Tagovailoa has no plans to retire, no plans to retire. In fact, his eyes are already on returning to the football field. As far as when that goes, we simply do not know, every concussion is different, the way every player responds to a concussion is different. He will be healthy enough to play, when he is healthy enough to play, when he and his doctors decide that. That said, he has already begun the process of seeing a concussion specialist as he did in 2022, wouldn’t be surprised if he saw the same doctors. The goal is to get on the field when he is ready, and that’s one reason Mike McDaniel didn’t put a timeline on it. Wouldn’t even address it, timelines lead to anxiety. As far as the football goes, wouldn’t be surprised if he misses multiple games, as Mike McDaniel said, Skylar Thompson the starting quarterback going forward.”
Adam Schefter of ESPN had a very similar report, saying that Tagovailoa will meet with neurologists this week and will enter that meeting with no plans to retire.
Tagovailoa’s history with concussions is well-documented, as he suffered one in college at Alabama and two during the 2022 campaign as a member of the Dolphins. This does not include another hit that he suffered in 2022, which led to the league changing its rules about reporting head injuries. Tagovailoa did say on the heels of his 2022 season that he considered retiring.
This past offseason, Tagovailoa and the Dolphins agreed to a 4-year contract worth $212.4 million, with $167.1 million guaranteed.
