Tua Clears Concussion Protocol

Tagovailoa has missed the past four games because of his latest concussion.

Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa (1) throws the football before the game against the Jacksonville Jaguars at Hard Rock Stadium. / Sam Navarro-Imagn Images

The final hurdle has been cleared. Tua Tagovailoa will be in the starting lineup for the Miami Dolphins when they face the Arizona Cardinals in Week 8.

Head coach Mike McDaniel said before practice Friday that Tagovailoa has cleared concussion protocol after going through two practices this week without any issues.

Those were final steps Tagovailoa needed to take in the Return to Play protocol set up by the NFL.

HOW TAGOVAILOA GOT BACK TO THE LINEUP

Tua followed the NFL’s five-step Return to Participation Protocol, including an examination and clearance by an Independent Neurological Consultant.

Following practice Thursday Tua was examined by the Independent Neurological Consultant and cleared to play in the game against Arizona.

As he has progressed through the Return to Participation Protocol, Tagovailoa received care from top medical experts across the country. Those experts spoke candidly with Tagovailoa about his history and not one doctor recommended he retire from the game, according to McDaniel.

Tua’s decision to return to the game following medical clearance was a decision he made with his doctors and his family.

The final step for the Dolphins will be to move him to the 53-man roster, a move that should take place Saturday, at which time the team will make another move to make space for him. That other likely will involve another quarterback, whether it be putting Tyler Huntley on injured reserve with the shoulder injury he sustained in the Week 7 loss against the Indianapolis Colts or releasing veteran Tim Boyle.

Tagovailoa has missed the past four games because of his concussion in the Week 2 loss against the Buffalo Bills, his third diagnosed concussion in the past three seasons.

The Dolphins have gone 1-3 in Tagovailoa's absence, defeating the New England Patriots but losing against the Seattle, Tennessee, Titans, and Indianapolis while using three other quarterbacks.

This was the longest in-season absence for Tagovailoa, who missed three consecutive games in 2021 and then two in 2022.

In his two starts this season, Tagovailoa completed 64.5 percent of his passes for 483 yards with two touchdowns, three interceptions, and a passer rating of 78.9. He did have a 300-yard game in the season opener against the Jacksonville Jaguars when he had completions of 80 yards to Tyreek Hill and 63 yards to Jaylen Waddle.

NO RUSH TO RETURN

McDaniel's announcement came after he declined to say last week when Tagovailoa would return to practice and did so again after the 16-10 loss against the Colts, saying he wanted the focus to be on the players who took part in the game.

"Everything's the same," McDaniel said before practice Friday. "There's been no negative. Everything's been positive each and every day. And then, yeah, you'd be right in that I am focused on the Indianapolis Colts, who we play in 48 hours."

McDaniel made his most definitive statement regarding Tua earlier this week when he anticipated his quarterback returning to play in the 2024 season following his third diagnosed concussion in the Week 2 loss against the Buffalo Bills.

Combined with McDaniel providing nothing but positive updates since Tagovailoa was injured and the quarterback joining his teammates on road trips to Seattle and New England, it's been easy to connect the dots and suggest that Tagovailoa's return would come immediately when he's eligible to come off IR.

NO REGRETS ON IR DECISION

McDaniel made clear last week that he wasn't about to second-guess the decision to place Tagovailoa on injured reserve, sidelining him for a minimum of four games.

"So when you have a timeline that you do you have, like on that week you have to make a decision, you wait all the time you can, and then that decision's driven by medical experts and then, within conjunction of the communication of the whole team and obviously Tua, yeah, when medical experts in a timeline that's not ideal for anyone, say, the best thing would be with the information they had at the moment to do, I'm happy with X [result]," McDaniel said. "Because the idea is that people, especially in the business of having expertise, I don't ask the doctors for play-calling advice, and so I'm not going to supersede a middle class where...like that wouldn't be very smart.

"So once that's determined, when you make that decision that is based upon the information and supported, driven by medical experts, it's easy to; there's no really second-guessing or even evaluation of should we have, should or shouldn't we have. We should have, because of medical expertise. And so, then you take the time to utilize the time, and I think Tua has done a great job of getting something out of a situation that is obviously not ideal. I think you don't get to choose what you go through, but you get to choose how you handle things."

McDaniel said of Tua, "And he's been unbelievably diligent. He's been a leader while doing it, and the right thing for the Dolphins with regard to medical things regarding players is based upon the medical expertise, for sure."