The scene on Thursday night was grim when Tua Tagovailoa, attempting to score a first down, collided headfirst with Damar Hamlin’s arm instead of slipping and eventually fell to the ground.
The Miami Dolphins’ star quarterback appeared to display the fencing reaction for the second time in three years on “Thursday Night Football.” Flashbacks to his injury against the Cincinnati Bengals in 2022 understandably sparked fear and concern on social media. “Oh no, Tua.” “Not again.”
Unlike in 2022, when he was carried off the field on a stretcher, Tagovailoa walked off the field under his own power on Thursday night. Within minutes, he was diagnosed with the third known concussion of his NFL career. He also had one at Alabama.
I’m not in a position to tell Tagovailoa to quit. I’m not a doctor, I’m not part of Tagovailoa’s inner circle, and I’ve never had a concussion myself. But when former NFL players – not football critics, but real star players – start telling you to quit, you have to consider whether they’re right.
“I really hope Tua is OK, but he needs to seriously consider quitting,” Shannon Sharpe wrote on X, formerly Twitter. “I say this emphatically. His concussions are getting worse and he’s a young man with his whole life ahead of him.”
“That’s it…NFL, go ahead and do the right thing,” Dez Bryant wrote, apparently arguing that the league should step in and force Tagovailoa to retire. “Tua has had way too many concussions. He needs to retire because of his health concerns about his longevity.”
If Sharpe and Bryant are two men whose opinions you don’t particularly respect, they weren’t alone. On Amazon Prime’s postgame show, Tony Gonzalez said, “I’m thinking about retirement here” … before awkwardly following up with the worst choice of words imaginable: “To me, this seems like a no-brainer.”
And former player and front office manager Louis Riddick: “Part of the discussion will be whether he should still play. Never again. That’s the reality. It makes me sick. But it’s part of the discussion now. I just want the guy to be safe and healthy.”
There is a certain type of reactionary who argues that Tagovailoa knew what he was getting into when he pursued a football career and that the whole concussion thing is overblown. The problem is: We don’t make laws about whether tackle football should be legal for everyone or what age you can start tackling. That’s a different discussion. We don’t worry about what will happen when the hits come. For Tagovailoa, the hits have come.
Remember, Tagovailoa has already admitted to considering retirement after his difficult 2022 season. The man completed concussion protocol scandalously quickly in Week 3, shocked the football world in Week 4 and suffered another high-profile concussion in December. Less than two years have passed since then.
Amazon sideline reporter Kaylee Hartung said late in Thursday’s game that Tagovailoa was awake and able to move all of his extremities. She also reported that his family was with him in the locker room. His mother asked him to reconsider his playing career in the 2023 offseason. This time, the family’s pleas may be stronger.
Whatever decision Tagovailoa makes, his NFL career will be defined by his battle with concussions. We know too much about CTE to ever ignore a player with a history of concussions again. Every body heals differently, but when it comes down to it, we only have one brain.
