Dolphins GM Chris Grier claims Tua Tagovailoa is no more prone to concussions than anyone else

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Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa was knocked out on the field with one of the most disturbing concussions ever seen in an NFL game this season. Another concussion later in the year ended his season, and has led to major questions about Tagovailoa’s NFL future.

But Dolphins General Manager Chris Grier insists there’s no reason to be any more concerned about Tagovailoa than anyone else.

Asked about the concerns that players who have had concussions are susceptible to more of them, Grier says that concern is unfounded.

“From what our doctors and the consultants we’ve talked to through the NFLPA, that is not a true statement,” Grier said. “So for us, I don’t think he’s any more prone than anyone else. For us, we’re just letting the doctors, the medical staff and the people in that field that know more. From everything we’ve been told that is not a concern.”

The Dolphins’ words have suggested they’re not overly concerned about concussions looming over Tagovailoa’s career. Their actions will speak louder, and the action from Grier that will speak most loudly this offseason will be whether the Dolphins pick up the fifth-year option on Tagovailoa’s contract. Grier said no decision has been made on that.

88 responses to “Dolphins GM Chris Grier claims Tua Tagovailoa is no more prone to concussions than anyone else

  1. So for us, I don’t think he’s any more prone than anyone else.
    ++++++
    Okay. But the reason the back of his head hit the ground against the Packers was because Tua didn’t want to get dragged down like he did in college when he dislocated his hip.

  2. I think this is just CYA on the Dolphins part. Saying someone is prone to concussions would anger the NFLPA.

  3. They will trade Tua to Baltimore in a package deal along with picks for Lamar Jackson. The only NFC team I see them sending him to is the Commanders. Maybe Detroit, but that’s like absolutely the only two NFC teams.

  4. In other words they’re going to keep sending him out there until his brain is pudding and then they’re going to cut him

  5. Not prone to concussions? Did anyone in the league have more than Tua last year ? The last one seemed like just a routine play.

    Maybe he goes next year without one and proves all of us keyboard doctors wrong, but it seems to me he is prone to them

  6. He might be right, but Tua is really vulnerable to those “back injuries” that leave him stumbling back to the huddle and cause him to throw interceptions!

  7. Just shows how little Grier knows. 23 years and always pretty much a .500 team, different coaches, different GMs, same owner (mostly)… same pathetic result

  8. I agree, just left out one small part. No more prone than anyone else that is prone to concussions.

  9. Kid has a tough road ahead of him….all these concussions are only going to make the spotlight brighter on him everytime he hits the deck. Good luck Tua…

  10. Well I’ll leave it to the experts as to whether or not he’s more susceptible, but he definitely wasn’t fully healed when he came back, and the fact he ended up with that “second” concussion proves it. My kid suffered a severe concussion when he was in high school, and he was having symptoms for almost 6 months. He missed over 50 days of school, but Tua turned around and claimed to be ready for play after what 2 weeks? He wasn’t ready, and his brain wasn’t healed, and that’s why he sought medical treatment after the game. He needed to let his brain heal, but he didn’t do that, and here we are

  11. In other words lets keep our fingers crossed as my job depends on Tua playing.

  12. Talking about living in denial…unless a super improved, concussion proof, helmet comes along Tuas career will be short.

  13. The dolphins have determined that all of those concussions were “back injuries.” What a shameful franchise.

  14. There’s absolutely no way Grier believes this. Someone in Tuas family or circle of friends and advisors hopefully is in his ear telling him the truth and trying to get him to hang it up. He’s young and made a lot of money already and has a college degree. Walk away while you can.

  15. They are gonna pick up the option because they have to after this years shenanigans

  16. So Tua has really bad luck? Grier is probably saying that players around the League suffer concussions every week. The NFL is OK with teams (such as the Dolphins) letting the less severe ones go unreported. The fact that Tua is under a microscope prevents Miami from letting it slide.

  17. As Bulldog on Frasier would say “This is Total BS” It’s not if Tua will get another concussion it’s when.

  18. Tua just needs to learn to fall to one side. The first concussion he got shoved hard in the chest. Kept back pedalling then fell straight back bouncing his head off the field. Learn to fall to one side or the other.

  19. Damage control bc your team doctors let him back in the game then he threw up gang signs in cincy. Poor organizations make poor decisions.

  20. “So for us, I don’t think he’s any more prone than anyone else. For us, we’re jut letting the doctors, the medical staff and the people in that field that know more. From everything we’ve been told that is not a concern.”

    Right.
    So the fact that he missed the last few regular season and playoff games from a concussion that no one recognized occurring, isn’t concerning.
    Whether or not Tua wants to keep playing is up to him, but if he wants to play for a team that might care even a tiny little bit about his health, that team is not the Miami Dolphins.

  21. What do Tua’s personal doctors say because the other doctors have been negligent. Otherwise he wouldn’t have had 3 concussions in 8 months.

  22. Love Tua, seems like a good guy, I want him to get his big contract but I’ve slipped & fell on ice harder than the GB concussion. Don’t give me this not prone to concussions BS.

  23. Jerry Springer has the results and this has been determined to be a lie; Tua is the father of concussions.

  24. The team and owner don’t care about the long-term effects on to Tua.
    They want the short-term benefits of wins.

    Tua needs to look in the mirror and decide if he wants to risk his health by continuing his career.
    He is made enough money already for a comfortable life.
    You can’t enjoy life if you have CTE

  25. I love Tua as a person and a player. I think he is one of the most genuine and down to earth players in the game. But, he has not been blessed with a body that is going to hold up to the simple physics of the game. Playing a game for a butt-load of money is a hard thing to walk away from and sadly, the decision to ride off into the sunset is too often made for players by the game. From a business perspective, the Dolphin’s would be nuts to go into next year with the plan that Tua can play the whole season without injury.

  26. I’d think they’d pick up the option but wait on a new contact until they see he can get through a full season.

  27. Everyone loves Tua. However he is both injury prone and concussion prone. Dolphins would be nuts to pick up his 5th year option; of course this means they will.

  28. Like everyone who bumps his head on the ground gets a concussion? 3 in one season is definitely something to worry about!

  29. That’s… that’s not how concussions work!

    He’s going to have significantly increased risk for months. If he can go something like 6 or 12 months without a concussion then his increased risk should get closer to baseline, assuming he hasn’t gotten too many in the interim.

    Source: I got too many in the interim

  30. Yea. He is going to regret having said that on the record. Something is really
    ODD about the Dolphins, every few years the Owner/FO drops a II where it eats.

  31. Chris Grier must not be unaware of the NFL. Because of his size (he’s listed at 6’1″, 217 lbs), Tua over the years (from the time he picked a football to now) has learned how not to be a pocket QB (it’s very difficult having to see over an OL that’s a half foot taller). He’s learned to be a roll out, scramble, make it up on the fly, throw on the run, video game like QB (we know how that plays out). Defensive coordinators know this. Drew Brees, about the same size, stood in the pocket, looked for passing lanes or had the pocket move with him as a roll out. When Brady knows he’s going to get sacked, what does he do? Does he go lanky and open himself to take a hit? He tries to protect the ball and himself. Sometimes a player needs to learn to surrender the battle to win the war. I don’t think Tua can unlearn this as that is what brought him to the dance. The coaches should look at Brees and move the pocket with Tua.

  32. Shameful comment. But, this franchise glossed over the first concussion (Vs. Bills 9/25) as a “back injury”. Tua was out on his feet! So, shame is their stock and trade. Besides Grier, the HC seems a little slippery to me. Add in Ross and you have a trifecta of shame.

  33. As a fins fan I can’t get behind a starting qb who has issues like this, more prone or not, you can’t be holding your breath after every time he hits the ground and since concussions can last so long he is not a viable starter. Look at this year we could see a repeat of it every year if he get a concussion mid season or later. Pick up 5th yr option to see what happens since they have no viable backup yet and make a decision after that.

  34. Tua would not be prone to concussions, if they had let him heal from his “Back Injury”

  35. He may not be, but what he does seem to be more prone to is falling in a way where his head smacks into the turf.

    It’s not his fault for getting tackled, but the way he falls on those concussion tackles just looked different to me than other QBs. He seems to fall limp, like a rag doll, flopping flat against the ground instead of bending/curling/twisting to keep his head off the ground, the sort of fetal position that many start into when going down.

    It may be nothing, or it may be something he can be trained on to help protect his head, which is protecting his life, let alone career.

  36. Yea that is a straight up lie our eyes tell us otherwise Mr. Grier.

    Look I know Dolphins fans don’t wanna hear this but Tua is not only very, very concussion prone the dude is made of glass and extremely injury prone and he doesn’t have the athleticism/foot speed or elusiveness of smaller QBs like a Kyler Murray or Lamar Jackson does. Every time Tua is getting touched he is getting injured, his last concussion came on a very soft routine hit you see a 1000x around the NFL on a football Sunday. Tua reminds me a lot of Chad Pennington who didn’t have the strongest arm but was deadly accurate and a very good game manager type his body just couldn’t hold up n he couldn’t withstand the punishment of playing in the NFL on a weekly basis. Tua’s future is at best working as a backup QB2 I’m the NFL because he can only manage to stay healthy for a handful of games at time anyways but if he cares about his long term healthy which he obviously doesn’t he should retire.
    The Dolphins depending on Tua Tagovailoa next season as their starting QB is the definition of foolish and they’ll only be hurting themselves, if Dolphins want to be good they should demand their team move on from him this off season as deep down even Dolphins fans know this guy isn’t going to hold up if they’re being honest with themselves. Draft another QB or trade for someone like Derek Carr because Tua isn’t the answer and will only hurt the Dolphins chances of winning next season when he inevitably gets injured. Tua is a walking injury waiting to happen, at this point I’m sure the league os getting scared to even have him on the field.

  37. Shame on the Dolphins for letting him back in the Buffalo game. Obvious concussion. That decision cost them the season and possibly the future.

  38. dlw492 says:
    January 18, 2023 at 5:25 am
    They will trade Tua to Baltimore in a package deal along with picks for Lamar Jackson

    ———

    Baltimore would need to give picks along with Jackson.

  39. Grier: “Do you expect me to not make my quarterback seem healthy so I can maximize his value when I trade him when someone like Tom Brady or Lamar Jackson come calling?”

  40. There are no reports of Tua ever having a concussion prior to this season. He had one against Buffalo on the dirty hit and then had a second bad one against the Bengal’s that should have been flagged. That was two back to back concussions that he hadn’t fully recovered from before retuning to play. Now he will have the offseason to fully recover and hopefully learn how to take a hit/sack. As for his size, there are several successful QB’s in the past and present that are shorter and lighter than Tua, so the size isn’t the issue. He is not a running QB nor is he a pure pocket guy, he’s just another QB in the NFL that is mobile and accurate. He probably should seek a better helmet than the one he’s been using and maybe better protection up front would help also.

  41. Tua needs to walk away while he still can. The millions he has already made would set up most of us for life.

  42. What nonsense — he keeps getting concussed a la Javhid Best. The Dolphins and Tua should be thinking about his long term health and put it an end to these recurring brain injuries before he is irreparably harmed.

  43. Reckless. And 20 years from now when he’s the next Mike Webster none of these Dolphin officials will be around nor care. He’ll be a distant memory from times past while they will have moved on with their lives.

  44. Hate to say it but Tua should retire. Dolphins covered up multiple concussions and injuries and did not have remorse for trying to make him play on a short week either against the Bengals. Fins should think about picking up someone else Tua has talent but he is the most injury prone QB I have ever seen in my 25 years of watching football.

  45. So many keyboard doctors here today. The guy is probably repeating what physicians have told him.

  46. This GM and HC are the most clueless duo I’ve seen in awhile. Maybe since Baalke and Tomsula.

  47. Ok everybody slow down with the prone comments. Tua has had 2 concussions and a back injury. An elite medical staff employed by the NFL determined this and they would never put a player back on the field and endanger him. Now if he had 3 concussions in a year including one where he seized up in front of a live TV audience I would be concerned. But this never happened. The Dolphins and the league said so. They would never lie to anyone.

    Yes this is 150% sarcasm.

  48. If that’s what the doctors say, and remember, nflpa has another set of doctors, if multiple doctors believe this is the case, then ok. I have to be of the mind that this guy has been checked, thoroughly.

  49. firedog784 says:
    January 18, 2023 at 10:39 am
    Reckless. And 20 years from now when he’s the next Mike Webster none of these Dolphin officials will be around nor care

    ———-

    So you are proposing what exactly? If a guy gets two concussions in a season he should be forced out of the league?

  50. 3 concussions in less than one full season says otherwise. Tua needs to retire before he becomes a drooling vegetable.

  51. Concussions are like heat stroke, once you get one, you become more likely to experience another. That’s fact. Tau’s size is also against him. He should seek advice fom Brady who actually trained to get tackled without getting injured, especially to the head. If Tau changes his playing style he can probably move forward, but if he continues to play the style he plays then he’s gonna scramble his brain pan some more.

  52. Reading through these comments it seems everyone thinks Tua and Kenny Pickett should retire?

  53. Tua is young and recovery time is what he needs but I saw firsthand what subsequent concussions could do to older QBs Staubach and Young and he has to protect his head and body much better. He will get another chance next year but any concussion will make the spotlight on him even hotter …

  54. Doing a quick search on multiple renowned medical sites, a concussion does NOT make you more susceptible to another one once that concussion has fully healed. Maybe we should listen to the actual doctors instead of the armchair ones on the internet.

  55. I don’t understand how people can say Tua needs to learn how to practice not having a potential tackler grab him and throw him down on the ground as hard as possible….and not have his head hit the ground.That would take some Yeti knowledge.
    He’d be better off taking the Tom Brady approach and beg for a flag thrown whenever anyone thought about throwing him down on the ground as hard as possible

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