Miami Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel said Friday that the team is focusing on quarterback Tua Tagovailoa ‘s health as opposed to addressing the on-field impact of him suffering a concussion in Thursday’s 31-10 Week 2 defeat to the Buffalo Bills.
“It’s not in my DNA to think like, what does this mean [from a football standpoint]? What it means is that to properly prioritize what’s most important, I have to put his health as the primary. And so, it’s been 10 hours since I last talked to you guys,” McDaniel said. “I absolutely positively will not do anything to make anything worse or hurt, you know, any one of our players. Specifically, you know, guys that are in concussion protocol.
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“… There’s a lot of people that want to support, but quite literally, questions, timelines — that gives forth anxiety. Trying to beat them, trying to assess what this means for playing. I mean, this is heavy stuff that you have to be diligent to deliberate. And you know coaching up to ‘Hey, your job is to beat that and to communicate daily assessments with experts in the field and handle that.’ And that is the only thing that matters.”
Tagovailoa, 26, left the game late in the third quarter after scrambling for a first down and lowering his head to initiate contact with Bills safety Damar Hamlin . Immediately after the impact, Tagovailoa’s body showed the fencing posture. After being tended to by the Dolphins’ medical staff, Tagovailoa was able to walk off the field and head to the locker room under his own power. Miami diagnosed him with the third known concussion of his NFL career.
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Mike McDaniel addresses if Tua Tagovailoa should retire after latest concussion
McDaniel said he hasn’t yet gotten a chance to speak with Tagovailoa on Friday. The plan is for him to arrive to the facility at some point to meet with medical experts.
“I called him about an hour ago, but he was still asleep, so I haven’t talked to him yet,” McDaniel said. “They should be meeting here shortly for the first after action time spent with experts.”
Tagovailoa first suffered a concussion in Week 3 of the 2022 season against the Bills. He briefly left the game but returned later. The Dolphins cleared Tagovailoa four days later and he suited up against the Cincinnati Bengals. In the second quarter of that game, Tagovailoa hit his head on the ground in violent fashion, rendering him unconscious for a brief moment. He had to be stretchered off the field. Tagovailoa suffered another concussion on Christmas Day against the Green Bay Packers.
After the NFL and NFLPA launched a joint investigation into the Dolphins’ handling of Tagovailoa injury, the NFLPA fired the unaffiliated neurological consultant who cleared Tagovailoa to return to the game against Buffalo. The league then altered its concussion policy, giving spotters the ability to have players removed from games if they exhibit concussion symptoms.
Tagovailoa, who returned to play in all 17 games this past season, said he considered retirement after the 2022 campaign. Many former players have suggested that Tagovailoa strongly think about retiring after his latest concussion. McDaniel, however, isn’t ready to have those conversations.
“I totally get that’s where people want to go,” McDaniel said. “I just wish, for a second, people would hear what I’m saying. Bringing up his future is not in the best interest of him.”
McDaniel said the team is moving forward with Skylar Thompson as starting quarterback. He added they will sign another quarterback for depth purposes.
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