The Miami Dolphins seem set to move forward with Tua Tagovailoa as their starting quarterback for the foreseeable future, but Tagovailoa’s history of concussions presents quite a bit of a problem that the Dolphins will need to address.
As Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk points out, if the Miami Dolphins are going to stick with Tua Tagovailoa for the future, they are going to have to be better prepared for him to inevitably miss some time with concussions.
“For a player who suffered three (and likely four) concussions in less than two years — two of which triggered the fencing posture — it’s not a matter of when and not if. And with extended absences after each of his last two, it’s critical for the Dolphins to be prepared for the next one,” Florio wrote for Pro Football Talk.
“After his latest, they weren’t. Only Tua can run the offense. None of the backups were able to handle the timing-based, shell-game distribution of the ball behind the line of scrimmage. None were able to get the ball to Tyreek Hill on a consistent basis. None were able to give the offense a kick in the [behind].”
While Tagovailoa did not miss a game in 2023, he did miss a significant chunk of the 2022 season as a result of concussions, and he has already missed several games this season, as well.
In both 2022 and this season, the offense took a massive step back once he was unable to play.
The Dolphins lost three of their four games with Tagovailoa on Injured Reserve, failing to score more than 15 points in any of those games – even their win against the New England Patriots.
Given the extensive time that Tagovailoa has been sidelined in recent years, it’s clear that the team needs to invest in a quality backup who is prepared to play.
We’ll have to see whether or not the team decides to address this problem in the offseason.
For now, however, they will just have to hope that Tagovailoa can remain healthy for the rest of the season.
