Fins’ McDaniel expects Tua to play again in 2024

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — Miami Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel said he expects quarterback Tua Tagovailoa to play again this season, although he didn’t have an exact date for his return.

Tagovailoa has spent the past four weeks on injured reserve with a concussion he suffered on Sept. 12 and isn’t eligible to return until the Dolphins’ game against the Arizona Cardinals in Week 8. McDaniel did not commit to Tagovailoa returning when he’s eligible next week, but for the first time since his injury, he did offer some optimism into the quarterback playing again this season.

“I do expect to see him playing football in 2024,” McDaniel said Monday. “But where that is, exactly — we’ll let the process continue, since we still have time before he can even entertain anything. We’ll make sure that he’s diligent this week and assess after that.”

Tagovailoa has a history of concussions since entering the league in 2020. He was diagnosed with two concussions during the 2022 season and suffered a third hit to the head that led to the NFL altering its policy on how concussions are reported.

After he was diagnosed with a concussion on Dec. 26, 2022, the Dolphins effectively shut him down for the remainder of the season; he progressed through the league’s protocol once the season ended.

Although that does not appear to be the plan this time around, McDaniel said he didn’t spend any time contemplating whether or not Tagovailoa would ever play again.

“I think the biggest thing that I’ve learned, for me as a head coach, it’s absolutely imperative for me to control the controllables,” McDaniel said. “It was so fast from him getting hurt to immediately going into, ‘alright, what’s the best thing for you, Tua?’ I didn’t really allow myself any sort of contemplation moments on whether he would or wouldn’t. I was so concerned with where he was at in his career, for his family.

“It is exciting that I do believe he’ll play football this year — I never went down that rabbit hole of whether he would or wouldn’t, because I’ve learned through circumstance that’s the wrong question to be asking. The right questions are completely, 100 percent toward the human being and the player, as a result.”

Miami has started two quarterbacks in Tagovailoa’s absence, Skylar Thompson and Tyler Huntley; the latter was signed from the Baltimore Ravens’ practice squad and started his first game two weeks later after an injury to Thompson.

The team plans to continue starting Huntley until Tagovailoa’s return. McDaniel said the team’s Week 6 bye allowed Huntley to “really jump into” the finer points of the Dolphins’ complex offense.

Beyond Tagovailoa, McDaniel was noncommittal on any Dolphins player currently on injured reserve returning to action this week. He did confirm that linebacker Bradley Chubb was not expected to practice or play this week, although there haven’t been any setbacks in his return from a torn ACL suffered on Dec. 31 of last year.

Running back De’Von Achane’s status remains in question after he suffered a concussion during Miami’s win over the New England Patriots in Week 5. He participated in the team’s practice Monday, albeit wearing a red noncontact jersey. Safety Jevon Holland was also present at practice after breaking his hand in Week 5; McDaniel referred to him as week-to-week before the bye week began, and his status for Sunday’s game against the Indianapolis Colts is unclear.