A little over two weeks after Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa suffered a traumatic head injury during a Thursday night game against the Cincinnati Bengals, the star quarterback has officially cleared concussion protocol. However, that doesn’t mean he’s going to start on Sunday.
According to NFL insider Adam Schefter of ESPN, Tagovailoa was cleared to return to the field on Saturday but will remain inactive for this week’s game against the Minnesota Vikings. However, Tagovailoa is expected to return during next week’s game against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
“Since suffering a concussion in Dolphins and his team of independent doctors followed a thorough process that far exceeded the NFL’s concussion protocol, per sources,” Shefter shared in a Tweet. “He received four outside opinions, in addition to team doctors, who unanimously cleared him from protocol and all agreed that his scans showed no signs of long-term impact to the brain. This is a best-case scenario for the QB who was off to a impressive start to the 2022 season and is expected to return to action next week.”
Tagovailoa returned to practice this week, but would not be ready to start for the team this week.
The NFL world had plenty to say about Tagovailoa’s return.
Additionally, Schefter reports that Dolphins backup quarterback Teddy Bridgewater also cleared concussion protocol on Saturday and has been cleared for Sunday’s game against the Vikings, but he will not start either. Bridgewater will serve as the team’s backup to rookie quarterback Skylar Thompson.
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