Tua Clears Concussion Protocol
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Maybe there's just something perfect about the Wednesday afternoon news item regarding Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa clearing concussion protocol, hours after the legendary Tom Brady announced his retirement via Twitter.
The Dolphins have made it clear that Tagovailoa will be their starting quarterback in 2023 and are confident he won't be any more susceptible to concussions moving forward than any other player, and news that Tagovailoa has cleared concussion protocol and is expected to be 100 percent healthy was a significant (and expected) step related to their position.
News of Tagovailoa clearing concussion protocol first came from NFL Network's Ian Rapoport and has been confirmed by a league source. It came days after a report from ESPN's Marcel Louis-Jacques that Tagovailoa had yet to be cleared and therefore would not be participating in the Pro Bowl Games this weekend.
Actually participating in the Pro Bowl always took a back seat to simply being selected for the event, and it might be even more so now that the festivities have been redesigned and the actual "game" was scrapped.
As it stood as of Wednesday afternoon, the three AFC quarterbacks for the Pro Bowl Games will be Tyler Huntley, Trevor Lawrence and Derek Carr — because Patrick Mahomes is in the Super Bowl, Joe Burrow has an excused absence (per NFL.com), Josh Allen bailed out because of an injury (though he's not too injured to take part in a golf event this weekend), and Tua, Justin Herbert (shoulder surgery) and Lamar Jackson all are dealing with injury issues.
So, yeah, Tua not playing in the Pro Bowl Games is an insanely massive non-issue.
Tagovailoa was placed in the concussion protocol for the second time in the 2022 season the day after Christmas and missed the final two games of the regular season along with the wild-card playoff game at Buffalo.
His health always was the big issue, and clearing the concussion protocol — regardless of when it happened — always was a big step.
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THE NEXT STEP WITH TUA
As it relates to Brady, there was the ESPN report from this weekend that the Dolphins would not be interested in pursuing this offseason — had he decided to keep playing.
That, of course, was in line with what GM Chris Grier said publicly the day after the playoff loss against the Buffalo Bills when he conducted a joint season-ending press conference with McDaniel.
“Yeah, I would say with Tua, he’s our starting quarterback," Grier said. "I don’t know how we could say it any more clearly. We’ve been that way through this season and what he’s done and what Mike (McDaniel) and Tua, (Darrell) Bevell, Chandler (Henley), the coaching staff have all done; they’ve all worked tremendously hard, all of them together. So Tua — we anticipate him, worked with and talking with the doctors and consultants and everyone we dealt with, we fully expect him back next year 100 percent ready to go and then we’ll get through all those decisions like I said, just like we talk about every player on the roster. Obviously I understand because it’s Tua and that’s why the question is being asked. We’ll go through our process, but he is our starting quarterback and will be next season.”
Where Grier didn't go in that press conference is whether the Dolphins will have Tua play out his rookie contract in 2023, exercise the fifth-year option for 2024 at a cost of about $22 million, or sign him to a long-term contract extension.
Given Tua's injury issues — in college and in the NFL — it's difficult to envision the Dolphins committing major dollars (Spotrac estimates his market value at $39 million annually), and there's also risk involved in exercising the fifth-year option because that's fully guaranteed.
If the Dolphins decide to stand pat with Tua's contract situation, they always have the option of applying the franchise tag in 2024, but that would come with a price tag around $40 million.
So the Dolphins have some time when it comes to making a long-term commitment to Tua.
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