SI:AM | Dolphins Need to Be Very Cautious With Tua Tagovailoa’s Concussion

It’s at least the third concussion he’s sustained in his NFL career.

Tagovailoa suffered yet another head injury Thursday. / Jasen Vinlove-Imagn Images

Good morning, I’m Dan Gartland. I really feel terrible for Tua Tagovailoa.

In today’s SI:AM:

⛹️‍♀️ The Real Deal
🔮 UFC at the Sphere
🏈 The Pac-12’s comeback

How long will he be sidelined?

Thursday night’s game against the Buffalo Bills was a worst-case scenario for the Miami Dolphins. Not only did Miami get trounced by a division rival, 31–10, it lost quarterback Tua Tagovailoa to a concussion—the third confirmed concussion he’s sustained in the past two years.

Tagovailoa was injured late in the third quarter while scrambling on a fourth down in the red zone. He lowered his head as Bills safety Damar Hamlin went in to make the tackle and the crown of his helmet collided with Hamlin’s chest. His right arm exhibited the fencing response, a common sign of a brain injury, and he laid on the ground dazed while teammates motioned for the training staff to tend to him.

Tua takes a hard hit. He appears to be concussed. #BUFvsMIA pic.twitter.com/SwBpjQQaM1

— Rate the Refs App (@Rate_the_Refs) September 13, 2024

The latest concussion comes two years after a series of concussions led Tagovailoa to consider retiring from football. Late in the first half of a Week 3 game against the Bills in 2022, Tagovailoa hit his head on the turf after a late hit from a Buffalo defender and left the game after appearing unsteady on his feet. The Dolphins initially announced that he was being evaluated for a head injury but the team later said it was a back injury and Tagovailoa returned to the field for the opening series of the second half. The NFL and NFLPA later conducted a joint investigation to see if the Dolphins had properly followed the league’s concussion protocol when allowing Tagovailoa to return to the field. The inquiry found that the team followed the protocol but that the incident showed flaws in how the protocol was drafted. The unaffiliated neurotrauma consultant who cleared Tagovailoa to return was also fired.

Four days after the Bills game, in the second quarter of a Thursday Night Football game against the Cincinnati Bengals, Tagovailoa was flung to the ground by a defender and his head slammed violently against the turf. TV cameras showed his hands contorted in an unnatural position in front of his face before he was taken off the field on a stretcher. He was diagnosed with a concussion. Tagovailoa missed two games before returning to the field in Week 7 and played nine games before he was concussed again in a game against the Green Bay Packers on Christmas Day—again on a sack where his head hit the ground.

The following April, Tagovailoa said he had considered retiring from football.

“Yeah, I think I considered it for a time, having sat down with my family, having sat down with my wife and having those kind of conversations,” Tagovailoa told reporters. "Really, it would be hard for me to walk away from this game with how old I am, with my son.

“I always dreamed of playing as long as I could to where my son knew exactly what he was watching his dad do. Yeah, I mean it’s my health, it's my body. I feel like this is what's best for me and my family. I love the game of football. If I didn’t, I would have quit a long time [ago].”

In that same press conference, Tagovailoa also curiously claimed that he’d been told he didn’t have to worry about developing CTE—the degenerative brain disease associated with hits to the head—later in life. But experts raised doubts about that assertion. Additionally, a University of Wisconsin professor told USA Today that Tagovailoa’s previous concussions could make him more susceptible to future concussions.

And now that Tagovailoa has sustained another concussion, the Dolphins must be very cautious about managing his return to the field. Judging by the quarterback’s 2023 comments, he appears committed to continuing to play football, although perhaps this most recent concussion will change his perspective. The team, though, has a responsibility to save Tagovailoa from himself. He’s a competitor and a top-level quarterback. He may want to return to the field and help his team chase a playoff berth. But the determination of when Tagovailoa gets under center again can only be made by the franchise and should only be made after consulting with numerous doctors outside the organization. It wouldn’t be an overreaction to have Tagovailoa sit out for the rest of the year to get healthy and give him time to think about his future in football. The Dolphins will struggle on offense for however long Tagovailoa is sidelined, but his health is the primary concern—even if the team is primarily worried about protecting the four-year, $212.4 million investment it made in him this summer.

“Every situation is unique,” Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel told reporters after Thursday night’s game. “I am not worried about anything that's out of my hands in terms of, I’m just worried about the human being, and he’ll drive the ship when we get the appropriate information.

“But it’s day-by-day health ... particularly with concussions.”

Clark has been able to match the hype leading up to her WNBA rookie season. / Erick W. Rasco/Sports Illustrated

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The top five…

… things I saw last night:

5. 20-year-old Brewers rookie Jackson Chourio’s 20th homer of the season. He’s the youngest player in MLB history to have a 20–20 season.
4. This photo of Juan Soto just before he got a Gatorade bath. Soto got his first walk-off hit with the Yankees, a single up the middle in the 10th, to beat the Red Sox.
3. Jazz Chisholm Jr.’s smooth 5-3 double play. Chisholm had never played third base before being traded to the Yankees earlier this season but he looks like a natural there.
2. Josh Allen’s improvisation to pick up a third-and-12.
1. Steven Kwan’s strong throw to nail a runner at the plate.