MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — Three Miami Dolphins quarterbacks are in uniform for Monday night’s game against the Tennessee Titans. Tua Tagovailoa, of course, is not one of them.
He’s out at least three more games as a result of the concussion he suffered in Week 2. But Tagovailoa absolutely plans to play again this year — and that return could come sooner than later.
Injury Update for Miami Dolphins QB Tua Tagovailoa
During ESPN’s pregame show, insider Adam Schefter reported that Tagovailoa is “symptom-free” and appears to be on track to return to the lineup when he’s eligible to do so in Week 8.
“I don’t think he’s heard anything to date that would dissuade him from playing,” Schefter reported. “… He’s acting and planning like a quarterback who expects to be back.”
Schefter’s report gibes with the contextual clues that have surrounded Tagovailoa since pretty much the moment he got hurt 18 days ago. Tagovailoa was back at team headquarters just four days after his concussion, and not just for treatment.
He’s helped his replacements — first Skylar Thompson, and now Snoop Huntley — prepare for games in meetings and from the practice field sidelines. He traveled with the team to Seattle last week, and Tagovailoa is expected to be on the field for Monday’s game against the Titans.
So why did the Dolphins put him on injured reserve? In part, to ensure that he doesn’t come back too soon, which would increase the likelihood he suffers another one.
According to a 12-year study of NFL head injuries published on the National Library of Medicine’s website, 7.6% of all repeat concussions occurred within two weeks of the previous concussion.
Beyond the link between concussions and CTE/dementia, “the long-term effects of repeated concussions have been linked to risk for depression in retired professional football players,” according to another NIH study.
In other words, the Dolphins might have protected Tua from himself by putting him on IR.