In the aftermath of his latest concussion — officially his third in the NFL but most likely his fourth, at least — Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa eventually will have a decision to make.
Should he keep playing?
Via Ian Rapoport of NFL Media, Tua currently has “no plans” to retire.
That’s fine, but it’s also premature. He has yet to meet with specialists. There’s a chance he won’t be cleared to play again, at all. That would make his plans moot.
Or he could be cleared but, based on the things he’s told when meeting with neurologists and other experts and after talking to his family, he could change his plans.
Also, Tua is barely 60 hours removed from his latest brain injury. The very brain that has made the preliminary decision to not retire is necessarily impaired, unless all concussion symptoms have disappeared in fewer than three days.
So while it’s newsworthy for the NFL’s in-house news service to report that Tua has “no plans” to retire, it’s critical to remember that many factors could change those plans.
Especially since those plans are being formed by a brain that has very recently absorbed its latest concussion.