The Miami Dolphins could see their starting quarterback return soon. When will Tua Tagovailoa be back?
Coach Mike McDaniel said Monday that he expects Tagovailoa to play again this season after the No. 5 pick in the 2020 NFL Draft suffered a concussion in Week 2. It was at least the third concussion Tua has had in the past three years, and his injury history had many speculating that he could choose to retire rather than return to play.
The news of his expected return is welcome for the Dolphins and their fans. Miami is off to a 2-3 start, and their vaunted offense with Tyreek Hill, De'Von Achane and Jaylen Waddle has sputtered with Skylar Thompson and Tyler Huntley at quarterback.
But when will Tua return? It's not a given that he'll be back as soon as he's eligible . Here's what we know about Tua's injury status, his concussion history and when he could be back on the football field:
What happened to Tua Tagovailoa?
On a fourth-down play late in the third quarter Thursday night, September 12, Tua Tagovailoa scrambled up the middle for a first down. He dove into Bills safety Damar Hamlin with his head hitting the defender's chest and then hitting the ground.
Tua's arms froze in the air in what neurologists refer to as the "fencing response," a sign of head trauma. He was able to walk off the field and did not return to the game. He was later diagnosed with a concussion , his third official concussion in the past three seasons.
Tua was placed on injured reserve September 17, automatically taking him out of the Dolphins' next four games.
Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel said Monday that Tagovailoa is expected to return this season, though he wasn't sure when.
"I do expect to see him playing football in 2024," McDaniel said. "But where that is exactly, we'll let the process continue since we still have time before he even could entertain anything."
Tagovailoa has spent time visiting specialists around the country after his most recent concussion. Although he was healthy for the entirety of 2023, he had at least two concussions in 2022. McDaniel said the news “continued to be positive” as Tagovailoa used the Dolphins’ bye week last week to obtain further medical advice.
“There's still information that he's seeking this week,” McDaniel said.
Tua Tagovailoa concussion history
September 12 was Tua's third registered concussion, though there is speculation that he had a fourth. In 2022, during the Dolphins' Week 3 game against the Bills , the back of Tua's head hit the ground hard after a hit by Matt Milano. The quarterback stumbled while he got up, and he briefly exited the game. McDaniel said Tua was checked by an independent neurologist and was out of the NFL's concussion protocol the following day. The injury was initially announced as a head injury, but that was later changed to a back injury.
Four days after that game, Tua had an even scarier injury on Thursday Night Football against the Cincinnati Bengals. In the second quarter, the quarterback was slammed hard to the turf and he lay there afterward with his fingers seemingly frozen in the air for several seconds. He wound up missing the next two weeks after the Bengals game.
Ten weeks after he came back, Tua suffered another head injury against the Green Bay Packers on Christmas Day . He briefly exited that game before returning. After the game, he was diagnosed with another concussion. Tua would miss the last two games of the regular season, as well as the Dolphins' first playoff game since the 2016 season.
When can Tua play again?
Tagovailoa's move to injured reserve after Week 2 meant he would have to miss at least the Dolphins' next four games. The Dolphins' game vs. the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday in Week 7 is the final game of that stretch (Miami had a bye last week).
That means Tagovailoa would be eligible to return from IR on October 27 in a home game vs. the Arizona Cardinals. He is eligible to return to practice October 23.
When will Tua Tagovailoa return?
While he is eligible to play again at the end of the month, there's no telling when he'll actually play again.
McDaniel said his immediate concern involving Tagovailoa wasn’t whether he’d get his starting quarterback on the field again this season, but rather for Tagovailoa the person.
“It is exciting that I do believe he'll play football this year,” McDaniel said. “I never went down that rabbit hole of if he would or wouldn't, just because I've learned through circumstance how that's the wrong question to be asking. The right questions are completely 100 percent toward the human being.”
Miami Dolphins schedule 2024
- September 8: vs. Jacksonville (W 20-17)
- September 12: vs. Buffalo (L 31-10)
- September 22: at Seattle (L 24-3)
- September 30: vs. Tennessee (L 31-12)
- October 6: at New England , 1 p.m.
- October 13: Bye
- October 20: at Indianapolis, 1 p.m.
- October 27: vs. Arizona, 1 p.m.
- November 3: at Buffalo, 1 p.m.
- November 11: at LA Rams, 8:15 p.m.
- November 17:vs. Las Vegas, 1 p.m.
- November 24: vs. New England, 1 p.m.
- November 28: at Green Bay, 8:20 p.m.
- December 8: at NY Jets, 1 p.m.
- December 15: at Houston, 1 p.m.
- December 22: vs. San Francisco, 4:25 p.m.
- December 29: at Cleveland, 8:20 p.m.
- TBA:at NY Jets
- Record: 2-3
Contributing: Hal Habib, Palm Beach Post
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: When will Tua Tagovailoa return? Injury update on Miami Dolphins quarterback
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