In the hours since Tua Tagovailoa suffered his third diagnosed concussion in two years, many people — including the Las Vegas Raiders’ coach and a number of former players — suggested that the Miami Dolphins quarterback would be best off calling it a career at age 26.
Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel wishes they would stop talking about Tagovailoa’s future, even though he understands that such comments are made with the best of intentions.
“I totally understand it, and it’s not misplaced. I totally get how that’s where people want to go to,” McDaniel told reporters Friday, the day after Tagovailoa suffered a concussion after running into Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin during the third quarter of the Dolphins’ 31-10 loss on “Thursday Night Football.”
“I just wish that people would for a second hear what I’m saying, that bringing up his future is not in the best interest of him. So, I’m gonna plead with everybody that does genuinely care that, that should be the last thing on your mind.”
McDaniel said he tried calling Tagovailoa around 9 a.m., but the player still was asleep. The third-year coach said he hasn’t even begun to think about how long Tagovailoa will be out or what that means for his team.
“All the science behind concussions tells you … how delicate the time is right after an injury and how important it is that you don’t institute extra sources of anxiety,” McDaniel said. “So from my vantage point, I feel it’s supremely important that … I’m not giving off any sort of vibes, I’m not trying to even look at, OK, well how serious is this relative to his past ones?
“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 even means from a football standpoint.”
McDaniel was then asked how realistic he thinks it would be for Tagovailoa to consider retirement.
“It would be so wrong of me to even sniff that subject,” McDaniel said, “and it’s more in line of actually caring about the human being. You’re talking about his career, right? His career is his, you know?”
He added: “If I were to answer that question, I’d be, ‘All right, these are my thoughts on his career,’ and he read it — if he agreed with it or he disagreed with it, either way I just made him worse. I don’t think it’s appropriate. … When you’re talking about somebody’s career, it probably is only fair that their career should be decided by them.”
Raiders coach Antonio Pierce told reporters “I’ll be honest, I’d tell him to retire. It’s not worth it,” and other former players offered similarly strong opinions.
Retired quarterback Robert Griffin III agreed with McDaniels’ thoughts. He posted a portion of the Miami coach’s comments on social media and wrote: “Mike McDaniel GETS IT. His response on whether Tua Tagovailoa should retire is worth 2 min of your time.”
Manti Te’o, a former NFL linebacker and friend of Tagovailoa’s, said Friday during an emotional discussion on NFL Network’s “Good Morning Football”: “I just hope that he makes the right decision…. I’m not going to make the decision for you. I’m not saying to step away from the game. As a brother, I just want the best for you and whatever that looks like for Tua and the Tagovailoa family, that’s what I want for him.”