Tua Tagovailoa is required to miss at least one more game before he’s eligible to come off the Miami Dolphins’ injured reserve.
While the team has stayed quiet about any recovery timeline for the quarterback and hasn’t said how far he’s progressed through the NFL’s concussion protocol, Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel gave a positive update about Tagovailoa on Monday.
“There’s some expert consultation that he has scheduled for this week,” McDaniel told reporters. “The final stages of protocol won’t be achieved until we bring him back off IR and that first practice is had. So until then, we’re just communicating, and everything has been so far, so good.”
Tagovailoa was concussed during the Dolphins’ Week 2 loss against the Buffalo Bills and landed on injured reserve days later. Given his alarming history of concussions, many suggested the Dolphins quarterback retire from football after his latest setback. However, all indications are that Tagovailoa intends to continue his career and is aiming to get back on the field sooner rather than later.
During the 2023 offseason, Tagovailoa did martial arts training aimed at lessening impacts on his head. He subsequently played a 17-game season without a significant injury and earned Pro Bowl honors with an NFL-leading 4,624 passing yards.
In his limited time on the field in 2024, Tagovailoa completed 64.5 percent of his passes for 483 yards with two touchdowns and three interceptions. In his absence, the Dolphins have yet to record another passing touchdowns and the team currently ranks last in the NFL in points scored.
After the Dolphins’ Week 6 bye, Tagovailoa is required to miss the team’s next game against the Indianapolis Colts. He’s then eligible to return to play the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday, Oct. 27.
