MIAMI – About 12 hours after Tua Tagovailoa was diagnosed with his third concussion in two years, Miami Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel asked fans and media members to allow his quarterback to focus on his health before talking about his career.

Speaking to local media on Friday morning, McDaniel said he “completely understands” that people are concerned about Tagovailoa’s health, but stressed that pressuring and scaring the quarterback into making a decision about retiring is not the best thing for him right now.

“I think it would be so wrong of me to even bring up that subject and it’s more in line with actually caring about the human being,” McDaniel said. “You’re talking about his career — his career is his … I just wish people would listen to me for a second that it’s not in his best interest to bring up his future. So I ask anyone who really cares that you consider that as the last thing you do, because you’re not, what do you think?”

Tagovailoa suffered a blow to the head during Thursday night’s loss to the Buffalo Bills when he threw his shoulder at Bills safety Damar Hamlin. Tagovailoa’s helmet struck Hamlin’s arm hard, triggering a fencing reaction — a term that describes when someone puts their arms in an unnatural position — as the stunned crowd at Hard Rock Stadium let out a collective gasp. Tagovailoa remained on the field for several minutes but was able to walk off the field to the locker room under his own power.

He was almost immediately ruled out for the rest of the game due to a concussion.

McDaniel said Tagovailoa was still asleep when he tried to call him about an hour before his 10 a.m. ET interview with the media and had not yet undergone further evaluation and assessment. When asked about the severity of Tagovailoa’s injury, McDaniel again insisted he was not focused on a timeline for returning to participation.

“I’m not evaluating the injury from the perspective of ‘All right, what does this mean for his game?'” McDaniel said. “I’m not even trying to look at how serious this is compared to his past injuries. I know it’s important for him to get healthy one day at a time… the best thing I can do is not try to evaluate what this even means from a football perspective.”

Tagovailoa was diagnosed with two concussions during the 2022 season and suffered a third blow to the head, which led the NFL to change its concussion protocol, particularly regarding reporting and evaluation.

He is currently in the NFL’s protocol to return to the starting line, although McDaniel said his message to Tagovailoa was that everyone was “counting on him to become a father” this weekend and that they would figure out the rest later.

The Dolphins don’t play for another 10 days, when they face the Seattle Seahawks in their first road game of the season. McDaniel declined to speculate on whether Tagovailoa will be placed on the injured list, but said the team has begun the process of signing another quarterback.

McDaniel suggested that third-year quarterback Skylar Thompson would be the Dolphins’ starter without a healthy Tagovailoa – who he believes will certainly not play against the Seahawks, although his opinion will not be the driving force in the decision.

“The only two opinions that really matter and are the absolute driving force for what we do at that position: Tua and the doctors,” McDaniel said. “If I were to bet, I would guess that those two people — I don’t see how he would play next game. I don’t see it, but who am I to know or judge that? But I think it’s a fair assessment that we’re prepared to have three quarterbacks on the roster for the next game and that we need to add one for this game.

“But I have no idea, and I’m not going to suddenly start making decisions. I don’t even see myself involved in the most important parts of it.”

Several former NFL players expressed their opinion on social media that Tagovailoa should retire, including Dez Bryant, Ben Watson and Tony Gonzalez.

Although he didn’t address anyone specifically, McDaniel explained why he would hold back on his opinion on Tagovailoa’s future.

“If I had to answer that question, I would say, ‘Okay, these are my thoughts on his career,'” he said. “And he reads it — whether he agreed with it or not, either way, I just made him feel worse… I don’t think it’s appropriate, simply because of my care and appreciation. And I don’t think those kinds of conversations should be had about someone’s career. I think it’s probably only fair that their career should be determined by them.”