Tua Tagovailoa Still Expected To Start For Dolphins In 2023 Season
Tua Tagovailoa has been the victim of several different injuries since he was the quarterback for the Alabama Crimson Tide. Since Tagovailoa joined the Miami Dolphins in 2020, he has had a foot injury, a rib injury, a fractured finger in his throwing hand, a back injury, a head injury that cleared concussion protocol, and two concussions, with the latter four being in the 2022 season alone. While Tagovailoa has been in and out of the medical tent several times this season, it is likely that he will still start for the Dolphins in September.
It was originally projected that Tagovailoa would be cleared for a later round in the 2022-2023 playoffs if the Dolphins managed to beat the Buffalo Bills in the wild-card round with backup quarterback, Skylar Thompson. Unfortunately for Dolphins fans, this was not the case as the Bills defeated Miami 34-31.
Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel spoke about Tagovailoa returning in 2023 after the game.
“You guys know how I feel about Tua and that hasn’t changed at all, I think we all see him as the leader of this team. When it’s appropriate for him to lead the team, we'll jump on that opportunity. He’s a great player with only improvement in front of him as well. We’re talking about a 24-year-old quarterback that I think when I signed up for this job, I spent six months trying to convince people that he was good. I’d be a fool to not embrace him when he’s healthy and ready to go and we’ll all be excited for that.”