Tua Tagovailoa proved a lot of his doubters wrong in 2022. Theproblem was he received a lot of hits, had to enter the concussion protocol and missed crucial games. It was a shame, since he was playing at an incredible level for the Dolphins.
Fortunately, after consulting with specialists, the Alabama product is ready to return for the 2023 NFL season. The Fins picked up his fifth year option, but will have to sit down with Tua to discuss a long-term deal at some point.
Jalen Hurts, another QB of his class, has recently signed the most lucrative deal in NFL history with the Eagles. Will that have an impact on future negotiations between the Dolphins and Tagovailoa? Here’s what GM Chris Grier had to say.
Dolphins GM reacts to the impact of Hurts’ contract on other QBs
“Happy for [Hurts]. He’s a good kid, I met him years ago,” Grier said, via ProFootballTalk. “For us, at the end of the day, it’s a piece of information. We monitor it. But there’s going to be other quarterbacks coming up still, who knows how soon? So the market will fluctuate based off those.
“So, for us, happy for him and the Eagles getting it done. But at the end of the day, it doesn’t really move our needle until we have to do something. [We]always hope Tua will be here, successful, long-term for us. And at the end of the day, we made this decision and decided to move forward in the offseason to get going.”
Tua says he considered retirement
Things were going great for Tua last year, as he was finding the best version of himself in the NFL. Until he started to suffer head injuries. Aftertwo, or maybe three concussions, the Dolphins QB thought about hanging up his cleats.
“Yeah, I think I considered it, you know, for a time, having sat down with my family, having sat down with my wife and having those kind of conversations,” he said. “Really, it would be hard for me to walk away from this game with how old I am, with my son. I always dreamed of growing — playing as long as I could to where my son knew exactly what he was watching his dad do. Yeah, I mean it’s my health, it’s my body. I feel like this is what’s best for me and my family. I love the game of football. If I didn’t I would have quite a long time [ago].”
Tagovailoa revealed he approached specialists and received the green light to come back this year, but he’s still learning techniques to fall better and avoid hitting his head. Hopefully, he gets to play without suffering serioushits from now on.