MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — It’s here. The 2023 NFL regular season. The Miami Dolphins‘ best chance at a Super Bowl run in decades. And for Tua Tagovailoa, it’s yet another chance to prove everyone wrong.
The Dolphins’ only chance to break their five-decade championship drought is for Tagovailoa to stay healthy.
We know that. They know that. And Tagovailoa probably knows it.
That’s why it’s among his biggest goals for 2023 — likely topping a list that Tagovailoa declined to share Wednesday.
“I wouldn’t like [to do] that,” Tagovailoa said here, ahead of Sunday’s season opener against the Los Angeles Chargers. “I would love to do that. Oh my gosh. I would love to do that.”
Tua Tagovailoa’s return to football is near pic.twitter.com/Tx14qLd0gU
— Adam Beasley (@AdamHBeasley) September 6, 2023
Miami Dolphins’ Tua Tagovailoa Set To Make His Return
It’s been eight and a half months since Tagovailoa last appeared in a regular-season game. He missed the last two weeks of the 2022 season and the Wild Card Round playoff game that followed after suffering his second diagnosed concussion of the year.
The months that followed were marked by indecision, introspection, rehabilitation, preparation, and finally, anticipation.
Tagovailoa briefly considered retirement after his tumultuous 2022 campaign but elected instead to return for a fourth NFL season. He insisted Wednesday that once that decision was made, he never looked back.
“You can never take it for granted, regardless of the position you’re in,” Tua said. “I don’t know how to explain it. Some guys have the luxury of finishing whole seasons, and other guys as myself, you know, I never had that luxury.
“So definitely cherishing the opportunity to continue to still go, be able to go out there and, and lead these guys.”
Tagovailoa has missed time due to injury every year since his junior season at Alabama when he suffered a traumatic hip injury on his final collegiate snap. That injury might have cost him his shot at being the draft’s No. 1 pick.
Instead, he went fifth, one spot ahead of his opponent this week, Justin Herbert — the big-armed, never hurt hurler who’s now the highest-paid player in NFL history.
The Dolphins, meanwhile, aren’t even discussing a contract extension with Tagovailoa until after the season. It’s smart. They need to see him stay healthy first. They have high hopes.
Mike McDaniel on why he has confidence that Tua Tagovailoa will play 17 games this year. pic.twitter.com/klKeNto1Vf
— Adam Beasley (@AdamHBeasley) September 6, 2023
“I think when you go into a situation, and you completely cross all the T’s, dot all the I’s on what you can control …” Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel said. “If I worried about stuff that could possibly happen or, you know, all the different things that can happen in the game of football, I’d be spending a lot of time worrying about something that probably by statistics didn’t happen.”
“You deal with whatever comes in front of you,” he added. “I’m very confident because he hasn’t wasted a day in getting ready for the season. That was a huge goal of his. He understands what he means to this football team, and I can tell you honestly that he does not take that for granted at all. How much support he has to do what he does, he’s definitely given it back this offseason. Really gone after it. It’s hard not to be confident in that.”