A defiant Tua Tagovailoa returns to this Dolphins season

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — This wasn’t the Tua Tagovailoa the football world expected to welcome back Monday.

This was an angry Tua.

“I’m frustrated,” he said. “Do I want to be known for (concussions)? No, I don’t. But these are the cards I’ve been dealt with.”

This was a defiant Tua, dismissing any health risk to his return to practice.

“How much risk do we take when we get up in the morning and to go drive to work?” he said. “You can get in a car crash. Everything takes risk. So, to answer that question, every time we all suit up, we’re all taking a risk that we could potentially get hurt whether it’s a concussion, a broken bone.

“You get up off the bed the wrong way you could potentially sprain your ankle. There’s risk in anything and everything. I’m willing to play the odds. That’s it.”

Let’s agree: He should play if he wants to play. Let’s be clear, too: There are NFL players like Jacksonville center Mitch Morse (six concussions) and Cleveland cornerback Denzel Ward (five concussions) with more medical questions than Tagovailoa (three diagnosed concussions).

But no one gets out of bed and is knocked out like Tua was against Buffalo on Sept. 12 in suffering his latest concussion. No one driving a car to work has a stadium fall silent and players take a prayerful knee after watching his hands go in the “fencing” pose of some concussion victims, a medical term Dolphins fans have learned.

Tagovailoa, like it or not, is the poster child of NFL concussion problem, due to his marquee position and the morbid manner his concussions have played out on national television. And it’s clear he doesn’t like it.

“This is only becoming a thing because of what happened two years ago with myself in the sport,” he said. “I hate that it happened, but we don’t look at boxers the same way. We don’t look at hockey players the same way. But I just think because of what happened and the magnitude that had, it’s becoming more of an issue here.”

You can appreciate the frustration he has about his situation while understanding this isn’t the way to go. Different sports have different protocols. But Hall of Fame hockey players have stopped careers (see: Eric Lindros) or taken a year off (see: Patrice Bergeron) over the past couple of decades due to concussions. Boxing has disappeared from the landscape in part because of them, too.

So, Tua isn’t special in that regard. He’s just another big name whose career has unfortunately become mixed in a larger storyline that embarrasses the NFL from a public-relations standpoint and exposes them to continued liability issues.

If he doesn’t like it, he’s not alone. No one watching does, either. The Dolphins are a franchise that will have to cross its fingers and rework even more strategy every game for the rest of his career out of his health concern. Fans don’t want to go to a game to potentially see him laid out another time.

And none of us writing, trust me, wants this to be the ongoing story it is. Neurologists don’t seem to know where the line on concussions is between a healthy risk and an improper one, so how are we, whose medical knowledge stops at taking an Advil?

Yet questions have to be asked, like if he had discussed retirement with his family as he said he had after his concussions in 2022.

“Nope, nope, none of that,” he said.

Will he wear a protective guardian cap over his helmet?

“Nope,” he said.

Why not?

“Personal choice.”

His return to practice and, assuming all goes well, to Sunday’s game against the Arizona Cardinals has been expected for weeks around the Dolphins. From a football standpoint, this sinking season needs him. This offense has scored three touchdowns in 51 possessions in his absence, thanks in good part to the front office’s mismanagement of backup quarterbacks.

As he returns, too, there’s the accompanying story of how this franchise protects itself at the most important position for the future out of fear Tua’s next concussion will come at some point. Next game. Next year. Three years from now. Who knows when?

All you know this will be an ongoing storyline as he’s returned Monday with an emotion that wasn’t expected. He wasn’t thankful to return. He was angry. He wasn’t grateful for the concern about his health. He was dismissive of the questions.

He also was clear why he was returning no matter the risk.

“I love this game — I love it to the death of me,” he said.

Let’s hope not.

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