On Thursday night during the game against the Bills, Tua Tagovailoa suffered a concussion. The third of his professional career, officially, after two concussions suffered in 2022. The first had been particularly worrying in a game against the Bengals in week 4. Tua Tagovailoa had then convulsed on the field. The NFL had also agreed to review the protocol for evaluating these injuries following this incident. An incident already preceded by an alert in week 3 in 2022 against the Bills where Tagovailoa had seemed disoriented following a shock to the head. However, he had resumed the game.
Obviously, questions are starting to arise among NFL observers. Should Tua Tagovailoa end his career?
As a reminder, the player will enter a 5-step process aimed at gradually resuming physical effort, then training and then contact. At the end of the 5th step, the player must be declared fit to play again by a team doctor but also by an independent expert consultant.
Should he really come back though? Interviewed this summer in the “Dan Le Batard Show”, The player explained that he had a real family conversation at the end of the 2022 season, in which his mother urged him to consider retirement. But Tua chose to continue. What will happen with this new concussion? Mrs. Tagovailoa Sr. has probably already made her choice.
A culture of contact
While it seems logical that Tagovailoa should retire before he gets even more seriously injured, the reality is far from simple. American football, in its very spirit, is a contact sport. A “collision” sport, even said Duffy Daugherty, a college coach in the 60s and 70s. As recently as recently, the great Tom Brady argued that these injuries were inexorably linked to American football.
Moreover, keen observers of the sport will note that Tagovailoa does not really try to protect himself during the contact that occurred tonight. He dives head down on the defender, putting his helmet forward. A gesture all the more surprising for a player with such a history of injuries. Some especially suggest that he could equip himself with a “guardian cap”, these new padded over-helmets supposed to protect the head more significantly. Other players like Jonathan Taylor, a runner for Indianapolis, have chosen to wear one since the league authorized it this year.
Rare precedents
The other thing that makes Tua Tagovailoa's retirement questionable is the rarity of players ending their careers for these reasons. Recently, Panthers great Luke Kuechly retired relatively young after suffering at least three career concussions. He has been very involved in this topic since then.
Earlier in 2015, the case of Chris Borland, linebacker in San Francisco, who ended his career after only one year and a nevertheless excellent rookie season. In 2013, it was the Lions' runner Jahvid Best who said stop after three years in the NFL, one of which was off the field because of a concussion.
But these rare examples are difficult to put into perspective here. Tua Tagovailoa has just signed a huge contract, he is the quarterback of the Miami Dolphins, a very prominent team in the NFL and which aims for great things this season. And his aura already goes back to the university of Alabama where he was highly anticipated as a future great player… while he had already suffered another concussion at the time!
Can he make such a decision given the sporting future that seemed promised to him and the media coverage he is the target of?
The irony, if that's the right word here, is that he's suffering this umpteenth (final?) hand injury from defender Damar Hamlin, who almost miraculously survived a year ago after going into cardiac arrest on the field.
What if this was the real sign that Tua Tagovailoa needs to stop before it's too late?
The Thursday night play on which Dolphins QB Tua Tagovailoa suffered another concussion: pic.twitter.com/q7P5L7LiaK
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) September 13, 2024
