It was a terrifying however sadly acquainted scene: Tua Tagovailoa, the star quarterback for the Miami Dolphins, mendacity on the sphere, apparently disoriented, after struggling one other concussion. The damage, sustained in a recreation final week in opposition to the Buffalo Payments, was Tagovailoa’s fourth recognized concussion since 2019 and his third since turning into an NFL participant, in 2020. It appeared like the final word signal that Tagovailoa ought to finish his promising NFL profession, solely two video games into his fifth season.
That seems to be the prevailing sentiment even among the many NFL brotherhood. Dez Bryant, a former vast receiver for the Dallas Cowboys, posted on X: “That’s it … NFL go forward and do the appropriate factor. Tua has had totally approach too many concussions. He have to retire for his longevity well being issues.” Antonio Pierce, the Las Vegas Raiders head coach and a former NFL linebacker, informed reporters that if he have been able to affect the quarterback’s considering, “I might inform him to retire—it’s not value it.”
The truth that so many voices inside soccer are calling for Tagovailoa to stop is a small signal of progress. Gamers lastly appear keen to buck the previous hyper-macho tradition of enjoying by way of any damage.
However no mechanism exists for the league or anybody else to resolve what number of concussions are too many, and there’s no assure that Tagovailoa will select to retire. Soccer gamers eagerly signal as much as play a violent recreation regardless of having a a lot fuller understanding of its dangers than their predecessors did. And for those who suppose the sight of Tagovailoa writhing on the bottom is sufficient to flip followers off in any type of significant approach, then you definitely underestimate the facility of a sport that is still firmly entrenched because the nationwide obsession.
Tagovailoa can have time to consider his future. On Tuesday, the Dolphins positioned him on injured reserve, which implies he’ll miss no less than the subsequent 4 video games earlier than he’s eligible to return to NFL motion. Due to Miami’s scheduled bye week, the earliest Tagovailoa might return is on October 27, in opposition to the Arizona Cardinals. The break ought to enable Tagovailoa not solely to get well from the damage and undergo the league’s concussion protocol, however to debate his choices with outdoors neurologists and, presumably, his household.
No matter he decides, concussions and the danger of long-term mind injury clearly stay part of soccer. The NFL’s efforts to deal with the issue have ranged from incomplete to untrustworthy.
Practically a decade has handed for the reason that NFL agreed to settle a large lawsuit introduced by 4,500 gamers who accused the league of hiding the risks of power traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE —the degenerative illness that may have an effect on individuals who undergo repeated concussions and traumatic mind accidents. The NFL has since carried out a bunch of rule modifications in an effort to make the sport safer, however head accidents stay an all too widespread a part of the sport. That hasn’t stopped NFL rankings from persevering with to rise. The gamers, for his or her half, seem to have principally accepted the hazard. Tagovailoa’s concussion final week got here after he crashed headfirst into the chest of the Payments security Damar Hamlin, whose coronary heart stopped on the sphere final season after he suffered a extreme blow to the chest. Hamlin needed to be administered CPR after that damage and got here very near dying on the sphere. Now he’s again on the market, delivering hits of his personal.
The NFL has proven that it may possibly’t be relied on to prioritize the well-being of its gamers. The league and the Dolphins drew widespread criticism for his or her dealing with of Tagovailoa’s a number of concussions all through the 2022 season. Throughout one other recreation in opposition to the Payments, the again of Tagovailoa’s head slammed into the turf on the finish of a play. After getting up, the quarterback stumbled and fell on his approach again to the sideline, visibly shaken up. And but the workforce’s medical workers allowed him to return to the sport, and the Dolphins introduced, implausibly, that he had suffered a again damage. A mere 4 days later, in a recreation in opposition to the Cincinnati Bengals, Tagovailoa took a brutal hit to the pinnacle. He was recognized with a concussion, prompting hypothesis that he had already suffered one in opposition to the Payments.
The NFL and the NFL Gamers Affiliation launched an investigation into why Tagovailoa continued to play in opposition to the Payments, which led to the NFL altering its concussion protocol to incorporate “abnormality of steadiness/stability, motor coordination or dysfunctional speech” as signs that may prohibit a participant from returning to the sport. This was a constructive step, however clearly not sufficient. Just a few months later, Tagovailoa suffered his second NFL concussion—or third, relying in your opinion about that Payments recreation. Whereas enjoying the Inexperienced Bay Packers, Tagovailoa once more hit his head on the bottom. However he wasn’t evaluated instantly for a concussion, and subsequently was by no means faraway from that recreation. The analysis got here the subsequent day.
The NFL has paid out greater than $1 billion to almost 2,000 former gamers and their households as a part of its concussion settlement. However an investigation by the Washington Put up reporter Will Hobson discovered that the league was nonetheless failing to satisfy its promise to compensate former gamers who suffered from CTE and different mind ailments linked to concussions. After reviewing 15,000 pages of paperwork and interviewing greater than 100 folks concerned with the settlement, Hobson discovered that the “settlement routinely fails to ship cash and medical care to former gamers affected by dementia and CTE.” In 2020, the NFL had been accused of utilizing “race norming” to find out concussion settlements: assuming Black folks have decrease baseline cognitive capability, subsequently making it more durable for Black gamers to show that they have been struggling psychological decline due to soccer. The league agreed to finish the follow in 2021.
Soccer isn’t going to save lots of Tagovailoa from himself. The quarterback labored arduous after the 2022 season to discover ways to higher keep away from damage. He did jiu-jitsu coaching to discover ways to fall safely. He gained weight to make himself sturdier. For one yr, his efforts appeared to repay: He didn’t miss a single recreation in the course of the 2023 season and have become the primary Miami Dolphins quarterback to be chosen for the Professional Bowl since Dan Marino in 1995. This previous summer time, the Dolphins, evidently feeling extra assured of their quarterback’s capability to remain wholesome, rewarded Tagovailoa with a four-year, $212 million contract extension.
Tagovailoa would forfeit most of that cash have been he to resolve to stroll away from the sport. Nobody ought to fake that it’s a simple option to make. And nobody could make it however Tagovailoa himself.
