Miami Dolphins placed quarterback Tua Tagovailoa on injured reserve on Tuesday afternoon, the NFL team announced. But that doesn’t mean the former Alabama All-American is finished for the 2024 NFL season.
Tagovailoa left the Dolphins’ 31-10 loss to the Buffalo Bills on Thursday night because of a concussion. On Monday, Miami coach Mike McDaniel said the team hadn’t determined if a trip to injured reserve would be necessary for Tagovailoa.
With the designation, the quarterback will miss at least the Dolphins’ next four games. Miami visits the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday, hosts the Tennessee Titans on Sept. 30, visits the New England Patriots on Oct. 6 and visits the Indianapolis Colts on Oct. 20. The Dolphins have an open date during the sixth week of the season.
Tagovailoa would be eligible to return in a home game against the Arizona Cardinals on Oct. 27 if activated from injured reserve.
But there are those around the NFL who say Tagovailoa should not return at all. Concerns about Tagovailoa and concussions are heightened by what happened to the quarterback in 2022.
On Sept. 29, 2022, in another Thursday night game, Tagovailoa was slammed to the ground during a sack by the Bengals. That time, the quarterback did not get up, as he did last week when he walked to locker room after being injured. In Cincinnati, Tagovailoa was placed on a stretcher, loaded into an ambulance on the field and taken to a nearby medical center.
Tagovailoa missed the next two games before clearing the NFL’s concussion protocol.
In a Christmas game against the Green Bay Packers later in the 2022 season, Tagovailoa threw three interceptions in the fourth quarter of a 26-22 loss. The next day, the Dolphins determined Tagovailoa had a concussion. He missed Miami’s final two regular-season games and its playoff contest.
Tagovailoa started all 18 games for Miami and led the NFL in passing yards last season.
Tagovailoa now gets a month off to progress through the NFL’s concussion protocol, meet with neurologists and determine his future.
The Dolphins will have Skylar Thompson at quarterback. Thompson has started three times in the NFL.
On Monday, Miami signed Snoop Huntley off the Baltimore Ravens’ practice squad. Huntley started nine games over the previous three seasons when Lamar Jackson was injured.
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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.
