I don't follow the NFL terribly close, but it was hard to miss the situation with Tua Tagovailoa this season and all his concussions. Particularly how the one concussion was horribly, horribly mismanaged by the Dolphins. The Dolphins announced he will be back as their QB next season. I was honestly a bit surprised by this. He had 3 bad concussions this past season and 2 within a 5 day span. Knowing what we do about CTE now, it really is kind of surprising to me. Of course, it's his life. He's 24, so I'm sure he feels bulletproof. But it makes me wonder if the league and/or teams should have kind of responsibility to step in and say "no, you're done." Football players are going to want to play football. Part of the reason they had to develop concussion protocols is because guys want to go back in the game, even if they don't know who they are or where they are. They just want to play. But for something as serious as CTE, it seems there ought to be some intervention on behalf of the player. I don't know...it just seems scary to me. Particularly with the nature of the concussions he had. If it's 3 over a couple or few seasons, that's a different story. But 2 in 5 days and 3 in one season is an entirely different story. There's no way his brain was healed when he got the 2nd one in 5 days, and from what I've read online, two concussions close together can cause permanent damage. I'm sure he did, but I hope the young man gave this a lot of very long, very hard thought.
He's 24 and he's got his whole life ahead of him. He has a wife and a baby. He's already made enough money to never have to work again. For me, it's not something I would mess with.
He's 24 and he's got his whole life ahead of him. He has a wife and a baby. He's already made enough money to never have to work again. For me, it's not something I would mess with.