Why Tua Tagovailoa needs to retire

Many sports analysts want Tua to shut it down for the rest of the season. But that’s not enough. Tua Tagovailoa has been injury prone since his Alabama days. He’s had injuries to his foot, knee, ribs and hip. These are injuries that painful, but ones that don’t impact a players life long term.

This season it has got much more serious. Tua has suffered his 3rd concussion in 4 months. As bad this sounds, it’s much worse than that. His first concussion vs the Bills was downplayed as a back injury, allowing him to come back and play the entire game.

Consequently, he was able to play in the Bengles game 5 days later. He suffers another concusion that caused a seizure. He suffered a back to back concussion with little time to recover from the first one. There was fear he would never get to play football again. Thankfully he was able to make a full recovery a week later.

Tua’s back to back concussion was serious enough to cause a laser focus to be put on concussions league wide. A new protocol was put in place as quoted: “ any player who shows possible concussion symptoms — including a lack of balance or stability — sit out the remainder of a game.” We have seen several instances of this concussion protocol being followed this year, potentially saving the livelihood of several players.

One would think that if the protocol was changed because of Tua Tagovailoa, the team he plays for would be the most vigilant when it comes to pointing out concussion symptoms.

Tua’s 3rd concussion against the Packers prove what the Dolphins had learned — absolutely nothing. It is believed he suffer a concussion late in the 2nd quarter. However, he played the entire rest of the game.

Why he needs to retire

The repeated lapse in judgement by the Dolphins is a sign of either one or 2 things: either they are incompetent or they simply don’t care. Tua’s retirement won’t just save his body, it could potentially save his life. Numerous studies have proven the consequences of multiple concussions in a short span can result in permanent neurological damage. If the brain isn’t healed enough from the initial concussion it can result in death due to brain swelling.

Even if the Dolphins from on follow every protocol and precaution possible (unlikely), it’s already too late. Tua has already gotten lucky twice, and cannot expect to get lucky a third time. It’s time to be proactive instead of reactive. Luke Kuechly and Jordan Reed are elite players who made the hard decision to retire due to multiple concussions. They are living confortable lives. The millions of dollars are tempting, but it’s important to remember that all the money in the world can fix pernament brain damage.