Tua's Injury is Far More Serious Than is Being Let On

This hip injury to Tua Tagovailoa is far more serious than is being revealed. Tua said this week that he feels worse now than he did shortly after his ankle surgery during his final season at Alabama, and Mike McDaniel, regarding this injury, said it is a “troubling one.” Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network confirmed Sunday that this injury goes far beyond Tua playing through pain and this being a pain tolerance issue.

When you start to put the pieces of the puzzle together and what everyone is saying, you can clearly see the Dolphins have a mess with the highest-paid player on the roster and with his health, not just in the short term but the long term.

A little over a week ago, on Saturday afternoon, December 28th the Dolphins surprised everyone in the NFL world when they announced that starting quarterback Tua Tagovailoa was doubtful to play vs the Cleveland Browns. The following day, Miami had Tua inactive for the game.

After the game, Miami Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel began dropping hints that the injury to Tua was more than just a pain tolerance issue and that the Miami Dolphins medical team would not medically clear Tua to play even if Tua wanted to play through it and it had appeared from what McDaniel was saying if you were reading between the lines was that Tua was being shut down for the remainder of the 2024 season no matter if Miami made the playoffs and won multiple games.

McDaniel said: “Well, I think with injuries it’s pretty cut and dry – 100 times out of 100, if someone’s not medically cleared to play, I don’t trump card that. I suppose, on game day, I guess by the letter of the law you could say it’s my final say. My final say is to choose to listen to the medical professionals with their expertise and knowing the pros and cons and that’s the only thing responsible to do with players. And then realistically, those conversations, Chris (Grier) and I get debriefed and sometimes more than other times depending on the injury in question, but that with our medical team and the doctors that are experts in the field, but to play for the Miami Dolphins, you have to have medical clearance to do so and when doctors tell you that a player is not safe to play football, we don’t ever deviate off of that. That would be extremely irresponsible on my part.”

This was an injury to the same hip Tua damaged in college at Alabama, but not to the same part of the hip.

On Friday, Tua told the media that if Miami makes the playoffs, he is going to play next week. Not so fast my friend, it is easy for Tua to say that, but he first needs to be medically cleared to play.

Talk is cheap, and what Tua is saying isn’t reality because the hip injury Tua currently has is far more serious than what the Miami Dolphins organization and Tua are letting on. Need proof of that?

Today, Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network is confirming this with his report: “Tagovailoa has been unable to gain the medical clearance he seeks to be on the field for a game that could potentially get Miami into the playoffs if the Denver Broncos lose to the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday.

While Tagovailoa has pushed to play when his teammates need him most, sources say, it’s not a given the QB would be cleared next week if the Dolphins advance to Super Wild Card Weekend.

Tagovailoa has not made public details of his injury, though he did say this past week that his general feeling is worse than how he felt a week after he had ankle surgery during his final season at Alabama in 2019. That gives an idea of the severity of pain he is enduring. Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel said while it’s in the same hip he had surgically repaired (also at Alabama in 2019), it’s a different injury. But clearly, it’s a troubling one.”

Rapoport went on to say: “That unique muscle issue is what presents the concern, as Tagovailoa does risk making the injury far worse by playing before before the swelling subsides and muscle tearing in the area heals. If it was only a pain issue, Tagovailoa made clear he would be playing.”

The question now facing the Dolphins organization and Tua is how long this injury will carry over into the offseason. Will Tua be healed up to 100% by February or March? Will Surgery be an option back on the table once Miami’s season is over? Will this injury go into Training Camp and the start of the 2025 season?

Or, worst case, is this injury something that will derail the soon-to-be 27-year-old’s NFL career?

Tua has had a laundry list of injuries dating back to his time at Alabama, and another injury to this surgically repaired hip is not good. Many thought that injury may have ended his football career. Tua did rehab and come back, obviously, but would a second major hip injury be the final nail in the coffin of his career?

What will be frustrating to Dolphins fans is that once Miami plays its final game (most likely today), there will be no more injury reports, and there won’t be media sessions with coaches and players multiple times each week. Mike McDaniel will have a final wrap-up media session this week, and Chris Grier will as well, but after that, it will be radio silent on Tua and this injury.

Not that the Dolphins powers that be would give you a straight or honest answer if there were still media sessions happening.

Regardless of how this situation plays out, one thing is crystal clear: The Miami Dolphins need to address the quarterback position in the offseason and find not just a capable backup quarterback but a young quarterback of the future.

Tua will miss six regular season games this season, and if they make the playoffs, all of their playoff games, whether it’s just one or more than one. In 2022, it was the same situation where Tua was not on the field for big games late in the year.

Tua is a likable person and easy to root for, but the NFL is a business, and it’s about winning games. Tua cannot be depended on to stay on the field. The old saying, “It’s not personal; it’s business,” totally applies to this situation.

The more concerning aspect of this latest injury is no matter how many concussions Tua gets or how many non-head injuries Tua gets, he refuses to protect himself and slide.

Many Dolphins fans on sports talk radio, social media, or various podcasts proclaim that Miami must build Tua a great offensive line to keep him healthy. Again, not so fast, my friend. Almost all of Tua’s injuries (dating back to college) have nothing to do with the offensive line.

It is Tua either holding the ball too long, initiating contact, or not sliding to protect himself. You can have five hall-of-fame players on the offensive line; if Tua isn’t going to protect himself and take steps to ensure he will stay on the field, it won’t matter.

The Dolphins have themselves a mess at the quarterback position as they are about to enter the offseason, and no matter what Tua, McDaniel, or Grier say, they are downplaying a very serious injury to their highest-paid player. This leaves Miami with more questions than answers as they begin to build the roster for the 2025 season.