(CNN) — Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa does not plan to retire after sustaining the latest of several career concussions last week, sources told NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport.
Tagovailoa was forced off the field during the Dolphins’ 31-10 loss against the Buffalo Bills on Thursday after diving for a first down and taking a hit from Bills safety Damar Hamlin.
The 26-year-old has a history of concussions. He suffered multiple in the 2022 season and said in 2023 that he had considered stepping away from football “for a time” due to the impact of the head injuries.
On Sunday, Rapoport said on NFL Game Day that Tagovailoa’s current goal is to get on the field “when he is ready,” adding that he wouldn’t be surprised to see the quarterback miss “multiple games.”
Rapoport also said that Tagovailoa has begun the process of seeing a concussion specialist, as with his previous injuries.
CNN has contacted Tagovailoa’s representative for comment, while the Dolphins declined to comment.
“I’m not trying to even look at, ‘Okay, how serious is this is relative to his past [concussions]?’” Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel told reporters on Friday. “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 event means from a football standpoint.”
Asked about whether Tagovailoa might be considering retirement, McDaniel said that it “would be so wrong of me to even sniff that subject.”
He added: “All the science behind concussions tells you what we’ve learned is how delicate the time is right after an injury and how important it is that you don’t institute extra sources of anxiety … The only two opinions that really matter, that are the absolute driving force for what we’re doing at that position, (are) Tua and the doctors. I don’t have any information from them.”
Tagovailoa guided the Dolphins to the playoffs last season and agreed to a four-year contract extension in the offseason, reportedly worth $212.4 million.
During last week’s game at Hard Rock Stadium, the Dolphins star stayed on the ground after the tackle from Hamlin but eventually walked off the field under his own power. Backup quarterback Skylar Thompson came on in his place.
Las Vegas Raiders head coach Antonio Pierce was among those calling for Tagovailoa to retire after sustaining another concussion.
“It’s not worth to play the game,” Pierce told reporters. “I haven’t witnessed anything like I’ve seen that’s happened to him three times. Scary. You can see right away the players’ faces on the field. You can see the sense of urgency from everybody to get Tua help.”
But speaking on ESPN on Sunday, former New England Patriots linebacker Tedy Bruschi, who had a stroke aged 31 and later returned to play in the NFL, said that he would support Tagovailoa’s decision to come back to football.
“The other thing to think about is this: ‘I can’t go out like that,’” said Bruschi, adding, “To all of us, how we finish our careers is so important, especially when you get into your seventh, eighth, ninth years, and you’ve been in the league and you know what it’s like and you’ve seen all these great players and all their careers ending.
“You have your own ending up here in your mind. Tua still wants to win and he still wants to have a career and I would support him if he wanted to come back.”
The Dolphins’ (1-1) next game is against the Seattle Seahawks at Lumen Field on Sunday.
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