Hours after Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa exited Thursday night’s game due to a concussion, a chorus of voices — medical experts, NFL greats and even close friends of the 26-year-old signal-caller — began calling for Tagovailoa to consider retirement. Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel, however, refuses to entertain such a possibility, arguing it’d be hurtful “to even sniff that subject.”
“All the science behinds concussions tells you how delicate the time is right after an injury,” McDaniel told reporters Friday, “and how important it is that you don’t institute extra sources of anxiety. So, from my vantage point, I feel it’s supremely important that … I’m not giving off any sort of vibes. I’m not trying to even look at, well, how serious is this relative to his past ones?
“I know the facts are it’s important he gets healthy day by day,” McDaniel continued, “and in that, the actual best thing I can do is not try to assess what this even means from a football standpoint. … It’s not in my DNA to think, like, hey, what does this mean? I have to put his health as the primary. I absolutely, positively will not do anything to make anything worse or hurt any one of our players, specifically guys that are in concussion protocol. Ironically, I think there’s a lot of people that have a vested interest in the Miami Dolphins, people that want to support, but quite literally, questioning timelines, that gives forth anxiety … trying to assess what this means for playing. This is heavy stuff.”
McDaniel added that he understands why reporters would be curious about the short- and long-term health of his quarterback, but reiterated his belief it’s counterproductive to raise such questions.
“I think it would be so, so wrong of me to even sniff that subject,” McDanel said of a potential retirement. “And it’s more in line of actually caring about the human being. … [You’re] talking about his career, right? His career is his. I just really, really, really wish — I totally understand it, and it’s not misplaced; I totally get how that’s where people wanna go to — I just wish that people would for a second hear what I’m saying: that bringing up his future is not in the best interest of him. So, I’m gonna plead with everybody that does genuinely care: That should be the last thing on your mind.”
And yet: It’s not. CBS Sports HQ injury expert Marty Jaramillo, who spent more than 30 years as a physical therapist, athletic trainer and strength and conditioning specialist, argued Thursday that Tagovailoa “doesn’t have the luxury of having multiple concussions and [then thinking] he will have a long career. … [It’s] not fair to himself and his family.”
McDaniel, for his part, indicated that he’s gotten no such advice from the Dolphins’ own medical team up to this point, deferring to future conversations with Tagovailoa and club doctors.
“The driving force behind any sort of move … is Tua, his opinion and what he wants to do with his life and his career, coupled with the experts in neuroscience,” McDaniel said Friday. “Those are the driving forces behind those actions. I have zero idea what any sort of timeline is, and I’m actually extremely motivated to be in the gray, because I’m extremely motivated to do right by [Tua].
“Me, myself? If I’m a betting man, I’m guessing that those two people — I don’t see how he would play the next game,” he added. “I don’t see it. But who am I to know or judge? … All I’m telling Tua is: Everyone is counting on you to be a dad this weekend. And then, we’ll move from there. … It is very, very important that there aren’t added anxiety pushed onto him right now. He just needs to be.”
Tagovailoa’s concussion Thursday, which prompted the same fencing posture associated with severe brain injuries that he exhibited in 2022, came two years after multiple concussions overshadowed his first season under McDaniel. The quarterback, who just signed a $212.4 million contract extension with Miami this summer, admitted he briefly contemplated retirement following that season.
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Author: Cody Benjamin
September 13, 2024 | 1:11 pm
