Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa will not be on the field in Week Five.
Tagovailoa went to the hospital after hitting his head on the turf and being diagnosed with a concussion during last Thursday’s loss to the Bengals and head coach Mike McDaniel told reporters on Monday that the quarterback will not play against the Jets this week. McDaniel said that it is too early to come up with any kind of timeline for when Tagovailoa might be back.
With Tagovailoa out, Teddy Bridgewater will start on Thursday with Skylar Thompson serving as the backup.
Tagovailoa also hit his head in Week Three and stumbled while getting up, but he was cleared to return to Miami’s win over the Bills with what was called a back injury. That caused the NFL Players Association to start an investigation into how the injury was handled and the decision-making came under even more scrutiny when Tagovailoa was injured in Cincinnati.
The NFL and NFLPA announced they are making changes to the concussion protocol over the weekend to eliminate the “gross motor instability” loophole that allowed players to return if doctors found it was not caused by a concussion. It will now be on the list of no-gos that cause players to be ruled out immediately.
The NFLPA also exercised its right to fire the Unaffiliated Neurotrauma Consultant who cleared Tagovailoa to return to the game. They cited “failure to understand his role” and “hostility during the investigation process” as the reasons for the move.