Big Step Forward for Tua

Quarterback Tua Tagovailoa's recovery from this concussion will take a big step Wednesday with his return to the practice field, but he will not play against the Minnesota Vikings in Week 6 and there is no timetable for his return to the lineup.

Head coach Mike McDaniel provided those updates Wednesday morning following the NFL Network report that Tagovailoa would take this significant step in his recovery from the concussion he sustained in the Week 4 Thursday night game against the Cincinnati Bengals on Sept. 29.

"What I've been told is he can go out and throw and do some individual work today," McDaniel said before practice. "So that's exciting for everybody just because, really, we just missed his personality. He's a guy that we rely on, not to mention all of his play and all that stuff now. When talking about this week, and playing, I don't see a scenario, I don't see him being active, and I do not plan to have him play at all. This whole process is a little tricky.

"Today, he's just getting back to playing football for the first time in two weeks. You know, he hasn't been on a field playing football in two weeks. So today, the focus is ... again, I'm not trying to get ahead of myself and think about the Z component, I'm worried about A, and A is getting him on the field and having throw a football and being around his teammates. That's what today's step is, and then moving forward, we'll go about 12 to 24 hours, right? But I can I can say with certainty that he's not going to be playing this Sunday."

This "football-specific exercise" would be the third step in the NFL's Return-to-Participation protocol, and that step is described this way: "The player continues with supervised cardiovascular exercises that are increased and may mimic sport-specific activities, and supervised strength training is introduced. The player is allowed to practice with the team in sport-specific exercise for 30 minutes or less with ongoing and careful monitoring."

The next two steps would be "club-based non-contact training drills" and "full football activity/clearance."

There's a possibility that Tua will be cleared out of the concussion protocol by the Minnesota game, but even with that possibility McDaniel declined to look ahead to the Sunday night game against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Oct. 23 as a target date for Tua.

"I'm excited to get him on the football field," McDaniel said. "There's some progressions we have to make in terms of, hey, he has to throw a pass. As far as his exact timeline of when he's going to play, I'll be excited to consider that whenever that comes up. Right now, I'm just really focused on him getting out there and feeling good and being around his teammates. Those types of decisions aren't in the immediate future right now. I'll handle that when that comes after ... you know, let's just get through this week and see see where we're at is basically the way that I look at it."

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Tagovailoa has consulted with four independent specialists, including the top sports concussion neurologist and the top neuropsychologist, since the injury, according to the NFL.com report.

Over the weekend, he began to increase his rehab work to include cardio and strength training.

While Tagovailoa will be throwing passes at practice Wednesday, Teddy Bridgewater will be in attendance but working on the side with a trainer.

Bridgewater also is in the concussion protocol after his one play against the New York Jets when a spotter determined he spotted signs of ataxia after he was hit despite video replays showing nothing remotely obvious.

McDaniel indicated Wednesday that rookie seventh-round pick Skylar Thompson would start against the Vikings.

When Tua returns as the starting quarterback remains undetermined, but that date certainly appeared to move closer Wednesday.