Tua Tagovailoa’s wild year with the Miami Dolphins: From near-retirement and concussion carnage to a Super Bowl run with the most exciting team in the NFL

This time a year ago, Tua Tagovailoa’s football career was in much choppier waters.

The Dolphins quarterback had just missed the previous two games after suffering a concussion against the Bengals, and another brutal blow to the head four days earlier against the Bills meant there were serious concerns about his health.

While he re-entered the game against Buffalo and was officially diagnosed with a ‘back injury’, images of him wobbling on the ground after trying to get up could do little to quell speculation that he had suffered a concussion.

These suggestions only grew stronger when the NFLPA later fired the unaffiliated neurotrauma consultant who evaluated Tagovailoa vs. Buffalo.

Concussion or not, we arrived at a place where a talented 24-year-old was told to quit the game he loves.

The prominent neuropathologist Dr. Bennet Omalu – the man who discovered CTE – was one of those voices.

“If you love your life, if you love your family, love your children – if you have children – it’s time to walk away bravely,” he said. TMZ Sports. “Go find something else to do.”

The Tuscaloosa News also had a warning for the former University of Alabama star.

“After what Tagovailoa has been through in the Dolphins’ last two games, there is no shame in the R-word,” they wrote.

After suffering a second diagnosed concussion of the season against the Packers in December — which would leave him in the concussion protocol for 38 days — Tagovailoa even thought about hanging up his cleats, he would later admit.

After discussions with his family and doctors, he ultimately decided to return for his fourth season.

But not before we ‘learn to fall’, yes, really.

“You think it’s easy — just don’t fall and hit your head — but there’s a lot more to it,” he told reporters in April of the wrestling techniques he learned.

With a healthy Tagovailoa thus far, the Dolphins have picked up where they left off in 2022, looking like one of the most explosive offenses in the league with their starting quarterback available (he missed parts of six games).

In fact, the lefty looks even better.

Through six weeks, his 9.5 yards per attempt would be the best mark of his career over a full season, and he is on pace to break his personal touchdowns record as well.

That, along with the blazing speed of Tyreek Hill and the coaching genius of Mike McDaniel, has helped Miami get off to its first 5-1 start since 2002.

So what’s stopping Miami from making a deep playoff run – or possibly even the Super Bowl?

Of course, the defending champion Chiefs will pose an obstacle, as will division rival Buffalo. The Bengals could also be scary if Joe Burrow’s sick calf can heal.

But otherwise, no one in the AFC is going to scare the Dolphins that much.

Perhaps their biggest opponent is Tagovailoa’s health, which will linger in the back of fans’ minds despite Miami’s hot start.

The quarterback’s 2022 season is largely remembered for his injury issues, but there was a second coming of sorts between his two concussions that brought the excitement (and stability) back to the Dolphins.

After returning in Week 7, Tagovailoa played essentially perfect football: eleven touchdowns against zero interceptions helped Miami achieve five straight wins and get their season back on track.

The next five weeks brought just as many losses, and another journey into concussion protocol quickly overshadowed much of that earlier optimism.

Only time will tell if the Dolphins’ 2023 follows a similar pattern.

Earlier this year, Tagovailoa said that doctors told him there was no evidence that his previous concussions put him at greater risk for future concussions or CTE.

Nevertheless, another head injury would certainly raise questions about his long-term viability.

For now, Tagovailoa is healthy, playing great and, by his own admission, better equipped to deal with the (literal) pitfalls of being an NFL quarterback.

From where it was a year ago, that’s something to celebrate.