Miami Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel told reporters on Friday morning that he won’t put a timeline on Tua Tagovailoa‘s recovery from a concussion suffered in Thursday night’s loss to the Buffalo Bills.
McDaniel said that he has “zero idea” what any timeline might be and doesn’t want to put that sort of pressure on Tagovailoa.
“First and foremost, I’m not assessing the injury through the lens of, ‘Alright, so what does this mean for him playing?’ ” McDaniel said. “Really, for me, I know the facts are that it’s important that he gets healthy day by day, and in that, the best thing I can do is not try to assess what this even means from a football standpoint.”
With the Dolphins trailing 31-10 in the third quarter on Thursday night, Tagovailoa took off on a fourth-down run, scrambling six yards before a head-first collision with Bills safety Damar Hamlin. Tagovailoa crumbled to the turf, and Miami’s medical professionals tended to the QB on the field before he walked off under his own power. He was swiftly ruled out due to a concussion.
The QB has an extensive concussion history. During the 2022 season, Tagovailoa missed five games, including a postseason contest, due to concussions. In Week 4, Tagovailoa was stretchered off the field against the Cincinnati Bengals and missed two games. Then, on a Christmas versus Green Bay, he was again concussed and ultimately was lost for the remainder of the season.
McDaniel noted that at this point, he wants Tua to focus on being a dad and not worry about football. Given Tagovailoa’s concussion history, the coach was asked whether he thought the 26-year-old, who signed a four-year, $212.4 million extension last month, might consider retirement. McDaniel declined to speculate.
“I think it would be so wrong of me to even sniff that subject,” McDaniel said. “It’s more in line of actually caring about the human being. That’s something that entirely — you’re talking about his career, right? — his career is his. … Bringing up his future is not in the best interest of him. I’m going to plead with everybody that does genuinely care that that should be the last thing on your mind. …
“I don’t think it’s appropriate simply because of my care and regard. And I don’t think that those types of conversations when you talk about somebody’s career, I think it probably is only fair their career is decided by them.”
McDaniel said on Friday that he’s unsure at this stage whether Tagovailoa will go on injured reserve, but he anticipates the QB will at least miss one game.
“I don’t see how (Tua) would play in the next game,” McDaniel said. “I don’t see it — but who am I to know or judge? … But again, I have no idea and I’m not all of a sudden going to start making decisions. I don’t even see myself involved in the most important part of (making that decision).”
With McDaniel anticipating at least a one-week absence — and possibly longer — the Dolphins will hand the reins to backup quarterback Skylar Thompson, who started two regular-season games and the wild-card loss for the Dolphins in 2022. Thompson won the backup QB job over Mike White during the preseason.
The Dolphins have QB Tim Boyle on the practice squad. McDaniel added that the Dolphins plan to add a third quarterback to the active roster at some point.
“I think to best articulate where we’re at is the team and the organization are very confident in Skyler and see there was a reason he was our backup quarterback,” McDaniel said. “That being said, we will bring in someone. We’re just evaluating the pros and cons for the different situations and getting through all those possibilities to do the best thing for the team, but as it stands today, I’m expecting that Skyler is the next man up.”
