After Tua Tagovailoa suffered another concussion during Thursday night’s game against the Bills, Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel refused to give a timetable for the quarterback’s return, but said in a video conference call Friday morning that he thinks it’s unlikely Tagovailoa will play next week.
McDaniel stressed that he did not want to cause Tagovailoa any further anxiety by discussing anything about his future career. McDaniel said several times that the most important thing for Tagovailoa right now is to focus on getting healthy and being a father to his children.
But after acknowledging that the most important people in this regard are Tagovailoa himself and the doctors – and that he has not yet received definitive information from either of them – McDaniel admitted that it is difficult to imagine Tagovailoa being on the field in Week 3 to face Seattle.
“If I had to bet, I don’t know how he would play the next game. I don’t see it“, McDaniel said. “But who am I to know that or judge that? But I think it’s a fair assessment that we’re prepared to have three quarterbacks on our roster for the next game and that we need to add one for this game. But, like I said, I have no idea. And I’m not going to suddenly start making decisions that aren’t OK — I don’t even see myself being involved in the most important parts of that.”
When asked if he thought it was realistic that Tagovailoa might consider resigning, McDaniel said, “I think it would be completely wrong of me to even bring up that topic.”
“You’re talking about that career, right? His career is his. You know?” McDaniel said. “And that’s something I really, really, really wish — I completely understand (the question) and it’s not out of place. I completely understand that people want to go there. I just wish people would hear what I’m saying for a second — that it’s not in his best interest to bring up his future. So I ask anybody who really cares to consider that last thing.”
“If I had to answer that question, I would say, OK, these are my thoughts on his career. And he read 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 respect, and I don’t think that those kinds of conversations should be had about someone’s career – I think it’s probably only fair that their career be determined by them.”
While McDaniel said he doesn’t think Tagovailoa will play next week, he didn’t say whether he thinks Tagovailoa will be placed on the injured list, in part because McDaniel hadn’t spoken to Tagovailoa on Friday and the quarterback hadn’t been examined the next day.
“His opinion and what he wants to do with his life and his career, coupled with the experts in neuroscience – those are the driving forces behind these actions,” McDaniel said. “I’m not hiding anything. I’m as transparent as I can be, I have no idea what the timeline is.”
“We just have to operate in the unknown and be prepared for any situation. And that’s all I want to do or should do just because I’m not going to rush to judgment. … Literally, I’m just telling Tua everybody’s counting on you to be a father, be a father this weekend. And then we’ll see. So there’s not going to be any conversations about where we go in that regard and how long he’s going to be (out) … none of that is going to happen without the expertise of the doctors and the actual player.”
Still, it’s hard for McDaniel personally to watch Tagovailoa suffer another concussion, given the close relationship between the two.
“The way I look at it, Tua is family to me,” McDaniel said. “So when family goes through something, you know what it’s like – you’re trying to think of a lot of different things that people expect me to think about. So it’s not easy.”
