Tua Tagovailoa was supposed to be a franchise quarterback with all the talent to ultimately lead the Miami Dolphins to a Super Bowl championship. Now, his future in the NFL is in jeopardy.
A few weeks ago, Tua suffered another concussion during a game against the Buffalo Bills and is currently seeking medical advice to determine what is best for him.
But the league also has an opportunity to intervene if a potential return compromises his integrity. The final decision has now been made by Roger Goodell and his entire staff.
Will Tua Tagovailoa retire?
According to numerous reports, Tua Tagovailoa does not want to retire from football. Nevertheless, it all depends on the doctor’s clearance and the NFL’s final word. That was the message from Dr. Allen Sills, the league’s chief medical officer.
“Patient autonomy and medical decision-making is very important, and I think that’s something that we have to recognize in our concussion protocols as well. Ultimately, when patients are making decisions considering their career… should reflect the autonomy that comes from discussions with medical professionals who provide the best medical advice.”
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Will Tua Tagovailoa play football again?
This important response from the NFL means that even if Tua Tagovailoa receives medical clearance, the league will not block his potential return to the field. In that case, the entire blame lies with the quarterback selection.
Sills emphasized that there is no way to predict the level of risk Tagovailoa would take if he were to play for the Miami Dolphins again. The key element is to gather all possible information, communicate it to Tua, and let him make his own decisions.
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“There’s no detailed formula to predict risk. You can’t just plug in the number of concussions and the time between concussions and age and some crazy constant or Avogadro’s number and derive risk. It doesn’t work that way.”
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“What we ultimately need to do is look at the totality of the patient’s experience: the number of concussions, the time between concussions, the duration of symptoms after each concussion, and where they are on their journey. What patients say about carriers, age, etc. And from there, we try to give our best guess as medical professionals. But that’s the risk of someone getting a concussion in the future. It is an estimate of how much.
Miguel Ángel Fernández Castro is a sports writer and analyst for Bolavip US, specializing in the NFL, MLB, NBA, college football, soccer, tennis, and golf. With over 15 years of experience, he has been a broadcaster, commentator and reporter for Grupo ACIR Radio in Mexico, where he has been involved in major events such as the FIFA World Cup, Super Bowl, FIFA Confederations Cup, World Baseball Classic, and Pan American Games. We have covered world-class events. , PGA Tour, ATP Tour. He holds a bachelor’s degree in international relations from Monterrey Polytechnic University and Higher Education University.
