On Thursday night, Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa took another hard shot to the head and suffered the third concussion of his young NFL career.
Seeing Tua lying on the ground, his right arm involuntarily extended up in the air was a scary sight for both Bills and Dolphins players, who immediately waved to the sidelines for help.
Afterward, the number one topic in sports media has been about the next steps in Tua’s career.
Some feel that the Dolphins’ QB needs time to heal before making a decision. Others quickly expressed their belief that he should retire from the game.
Time is needed for any decision he makes. But if he were to retire, his contract includes $167 million in injury guarantees. While some of the money might be disputed/in jeopardy depending on whether he’s cleared or not, the fact remains that he would still retain millions.
After he feels well enough, Tua and his family will need to sit down and make a decision. To make that decision, they should examine the history of past NFL players to decide on his future.
There are many examples of players who suffered concussions and continued to play, but there are also heartbreaking examples of players who continued to play after suffering multiple concussions that were never the same again.
That includes many who suffered the debilitating effects of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).
Hall of Fame QB Steve Young suffered seven diagnosed concussions before he finally retired in 1999. Former Jets receiver Al Toon retired at age 29 after his ninth diagnosed concussion. Jahvid Best, a former star running back at Cal, was rumored to have suffered five concussions in college (including this scary play in which he was knocked out and carted off the field), and three in the pros, including two in three months.
All of those former players are, fortunately, still alive.
But others aren’t as fortunate as their concussions led to CTE, which became fatal.
Mike Webster, the legendary center for the Pittsburgh Steelers, died slowly and painfully over many years. His death was attributed to heart failure but his debilitating behavior showed something more, and it was later discovered that he suffered from CTE. His death eventually spurred the brain studies that evolved into the groundbreaking $1 billion lawsuit against the NFL in 2015, which was sued for covering up concussions and CTE diagnoses.
Junior Seau and Dave Duerson were left undiagnosed and untreated and ultimately committed suicide. Aaron Hernandez killed himself in prison in 2017. In 2021, former Raiders cornerback Adam Phillips shot 6 people before killing himself. Former Pro Bowl receiver Vincent Jackson died due to chronic alcoholism and former Broncos star Demaryius Thomas suddenly passed away in 2022.
Yet after their brains were studied, all of these men were found to have various stages of CTE, which, according to the BU School of Medicine, can lead to “memory loss, confusion, impaired judgment, impulse control problems, aggression, depression, suicidality, parkinsonism, and eventually progressive dementia.”
All of these men also endured many of these behavioral changes as well.
Former Steelers great Antonio Brown, whose antics over the past few years have led many to question his health, claims to have CTE but, disgustingly, treats it as a joke and wears it as a badge of honor. That’s evidenced by a recent post stating “Welcome @Tua #CTESPN.”
We are not claiming that Tua has CTE, for that, currently, can only be diagnosed by studying the brain after death. But after suffering his third concussion, CTE could be an eventual possibility.
This is why Tua and his family must look at the health of former players to make a decision about his future. And for all for thinking about his health and well-being first, they must also look to the past when discussing Tua’s future.
Tua will get the time to not only recover but also think about the position he’s in and then make a choice.
And no matter what he chooses to do, his decision will impact his future.
He just has to choose how.
