Nick Saban offers advice to Tua Tagovailoa amid health concerns

Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa had the best statistical season of his professional career last season, but it was riddled with a multitude of head injuries that raised concerns across the entire football landscape. Tagovailoa’s former collegiate head coach at Alabama Nick Saban recently joined Stephen A. Smith on Know Mercy with Stephen A. Smith and spoke about his former quarterback.

“Well I love Tua, he’s a great person. I love to tell the story if you ask Tua how you’re doing today he’s the only player I’ve ever coached that would say, ‘great coach, thanks for asking.’ And I hate it, he struggled here a little bit with some injuries, a couple ankle injuries, obviously the hip injury that we worked hard to overcome,” Saban said.

Tagovailoa had a remarkable college career, throwing for 7,442 yards and 87 touchdown passes at Alabama with a 22-2 record as a starter. But even his collegiate career was riddled with injuries, suffering high ankle sprains in back-to-back seasons (one that required surgery) and a hip dislocation in his final season that fractured his posterior wall.

In his third NFL season with the Dolphins, Tagovailoa threw for a career-high 3,548 yards and 25 touchdown passes with the NFL’s top passer rating. But unfortunately, a series of head injuries would become the main headline of his season.

“So I hate it that he’s having these issues and problems, I love trust in the medical staff to make the right choices and decisions for his safety, his future,” Saban said. “I’d love to see him continue to be able to play and have success, but I don’t want him to put himself at risk either.”

Tagovailoa showed symptoms of a head injury in the Dolphins’ Week 3 game versus the Buffalo Bills, but remained in the game and was listed as a game-time decision in their next matchup. In their next game, Tagovailoa was hit on a play, demonstrated a fencing response, and was taken off the field by stretcher and transported to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center with head and neck injuries.

He would eventually return in Week 7 but entered concussion yet again following their Week 16 loss to the Packers, which would end up being his last game played of the 2022-2023 season.

“I think anytime that guys start having multiple concussions it’s a cause for concern. But again, I think that’s got to be how concerning is it is a medical question that needs to be answered by some people who are experts in that field,” Saban said.

Tagovailoa’s recent head injury history has led to speculation about his status entering next season, but both the Dolphins general manager and his parents both confirmed that he will be suiting up for Miami next season. Hopefully, next season will be kinder to Tagovailoa’s health, as he enters it with a different mindset and mentality.