Tua Tagovailoa was back at the Dolphins practice facility “smiling with his teammates,” head coach Mike McDaniel told reporters days after the quarterback suffered his third concussion of his pro career in a scary moment on “Thursday Night Football.”
The quarterback’s health has been one of the biggest topics in football since the head injury occurred in the third quarter of a 31-10 loss to the Bills with a number of former players expressing concern for Tagovailoa’s health.
While the Dolphins coach seemed to express some positivity over how Tagovailoa was doing, he sidestepped questions about the quarterback’s future and whether the Dolphins would be putting him on the injured reserve.
“Not enough information quite yet,” McDaniel replied when the topic of IR was broached. “That’s going to be driven by medical experts and then when we get the appropriate information and discuss with Tua, then [general manager Chris Grier] and I can discuss that. Not quite ready to make a distinction on that, so that could or couldn’t. We’ll see in the next coming days.”
McDaniel said that the Dolphins were taking things day-by-day with Tagovailoa and that the star player has been working with team trainers and the medical staff.
Tagovailoa was attempting to run the ball when he collided head-first with the body of Bills safety Damar Hamlin.
That sent Tagovailoa to the ground, and concern sprouted almost immediately as he attempted to get up and his fingers started to move uncontrollably as he looked to be in clear pain.
He was able to get up under his own power and walk off the field before it was quickly revealed that he would miss the rest of the game with a concussion.
Considering Tagovailoa’s history of concussions, there’s been plenty of intrigue over whether he would retire from football.
Over the weekend, NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reported that Tagovailoa had no plans to retire and on Monday, McDaniel had no interest in speculating about what the quarterback would do.
“I think it’s of utmost priority of mind for Tua to speak on Tua’s career,” McDaniel said. “So I think reports are reports. As far as I’m concerned, I’m just worried about the human being and where that’s at day to day, and I think I’ll let Tua be the champion of his own career and speak on that.”
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The Dolphins coach did say that he would be basing any sort of determination on Tagovailoa’s progress on the results of the medical examinations, but was happy to see him at the facility on Monday.
“It was good to see him and I know his teammates were pumped to see him,” McDaniel said.
The Dolphins did seem to be planning for the possibility of Tagovailoa missing an extended period of time by signing former Pro Bowl quarterback Tyler Huntley on Monday.
Skylar Thompson is scheduled to start on Sunday for the Dolphins when they hit the road to face the Seahawks.
