Ex-NFL Player Manti Te’o Gives Emotional Plea for Close Friend Tua Tagovailoa to Retire After Scary Concussion: ‘This Is Just a Game’

Former NFL player Manti Te’o got emotional while discussing his close friend Tua Tagovailoa leaving a game with yet another concussion.

Tagovailoa was ruled out of the Miami Dolphins’ Thursday night game after taking a hit in the third quarter. Similar to what happened when he suffered a concussion in 2022, his arms involuntarily moved into a position known as “fencing posture.”

The disturbing scene — in addition to his history of head trauma — has led to some in the NFL community calling for Tagovailoa to retire. On Friday’s episode of Good Morning Football, Te’o revealed he wanted the 26-year-old to call it a career after it happened in 2022.

“After he suffered the one against the Bengals, I wanted him to walk,” Te’o said. “When I saw him have to be carted off the field, I wanted him to walk. That was — that was hard, bro.”

Te’o was silent for several seconds as he fought back tears.

“What people have to understand is this is just a game,” he said, “and then there’s life.

“When you watch a young man, that you’ve known since he was a little boy, go out there — is hard for me? Yeah, but I can’t imagine how it is for Uncle Galu and Auntie Diane to watch their son, again, go down.”

Shortly after going down Thursday, Tagovailoa stood up and was able to walk off the field on his own. While some saw it as a positive sign, Te’o pulled from his own personal experience to describe how that image can be deceiving.

“I don’t even know if Tua’s there as he’s walking off the field,” Te’o said. “There have been clips of me, after concussions, getting off the ground and walking off the stadium, walking into the locker room — I don’t remember those walks… I remember it was a playoff game against the Broncos. I got knocked out the second quarter of that game. I got up — the camera footage shows me walking to the locker room. [Kyle Brandt], I didn’t wake up, I didn’t ‘come to,’ until the fourth quarter. It was two minutes left in the fourth quarter and I’m sitting in the locker room trying to figure out why I’m in Denver.

“I want the best for Tua the man, the father. He’s a father of two now. I want him to be able — not today, but 10, 15, 20 years down the line — to be able to raise his children, to be able to walk his daughter down the aisle. That’s what I want for Tua. That’s true joy.”

Watch above via NFL Network

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