Tua Tagovailoa wants to be the leader the Miami Dolphins need, but there are things out of his control, and it starts with his health.
Tagovailoa knows that if he is going to be a great quarterback, he has to be available. He has made all the right moves so far this offseason. He is impressing his teammates with his newfound "swagger." He is holding the players accountable, he is lining them up when they are in the wrong place, in other words, Tagovailoa is being the quarterback he is supposed to be.
The question is, can he stay healthy when it counts? Forget the concussions, Tagovailoa may have a bigger problem on his hands that no one is talking about, but maybe they should be.
Tagovailoa missed the final two games of the 2024 season with a hip injury, and until now, there has been no discussion about it. He was asked about it after the most recent OTA sessions and said that while they know what it was, he doesn't want to disclose it. It was the follow-up question that sent up a red flag, unless we are reading too much into it.
Hip injury could be a cause for concern for future of Miami Dolphins QB Tua Tagovailoa
I know, it all sounds cryptic, and I don't want to present it that way, so let's look at exactly what was asked and what was said on Tuesday.
Question: At what point did the hip start feeling like you were you again?
Tagovailoa: I would say it started to feel a little better, more so like in February.
Follow Up Question No. 1: Did they ever pin down exactly what it was?
Tagovailoa: Yeah. We know exactly what it was, but I don’t want to disclose any of that information.
Follow Up Question No. 2: Is there any worry that it could be recurring, something that pops back up again?
Tagovailoa: I think that if I can protect myself better, yeah, but outside of that, I don’t think so.
This is where it got interesting, and you can read it however you want, but it sounds like whatever the issue is with his hip could become a problem and, more importantly, resurface.
Tagovailoa says that he needs to do a better job of protecting himself, but it sounds like this could be one of those issues that taking a sack could make a problem.
"Outside of that, I don't think so," sounds like this could be a problem that plagues him over his career. Players can do whatever they can to protect themselves on the field, and Tagovailoa has not done a good job of that in his career. This now adds more to the questions about his durability.
If Tagovailoa is, let's say, one hit away from another big hip issue, the Dolphins need to be ready to move on should that happen. Zach Wilson being signed may be a potential immediate solution should that injury happen again.
Maybe we are reading too much into this, hopefully that is the case, but it's an odd comment that no one seems to be too concerned about, or maybe this is the reason the Dolphins opted not to restructure his contract this year.