The NFL has confirmed it will not play any role in deciding when – or if – Tua Tagovailoa returns to the field following his latest concussion.
The quarterback slammed into the turf following a hit by Damar Hamlin during the third quarter of Miami’s loss to the Buffalo Bills last month.
It was the third recorded concussion of Tagovailoa’s professional career. The quarterback, still only 26, has faced calls from fans, former players and medical experts to walk away from the game.
But earlier this week it was reported that Tagovailoa is on track to return to the NFL in a matter of weeks.
The league’s chief medical officer, Dr. Allen Sills, revealed on Friday that the quarterback is ‘seeing top experts’ during his recovery.
Dolphins star Tua Tagovailoa recently suffered a concussion – the third known of his NFL career
Tagovailoa took a hit by Bills safety Damar Hamlin during the third quarter of Week 2
But Sills confirmed that the league will not have any say in Tagovailoa’s future – beyond enforcing its normal concussion protocol.
‘Patient autonomy and medical decision-making really matters,’ Sills said. ‘And I think that’s what we have to recognize goes on with our concussion protocol as well.
‘Ultimately when patients make decisions about considering their careers, it has to reflect that autonomy that’s generated from discussions with medical experts giving them best medical advice.’
Earlier this week it emerged that Tagovailoa is on track to return to the NFL within weeks
Dr. Allen Sills revealed that the quarterback is ‘seeing top experts’ during his recovery
Sills, a qualified neurosurgeon, insisted there is no ‘detailed formula’ that can predict the risk of further concussions to players such as Tagovailoa. Instead all medics can do is offer their ‘best guess’.
‘It’s not like we can put in your number of concussions and how long between them and your age… and come up with a risk,’ Sills said, per ESPN.
‘It just doesn’t work that way. So what we end up having to do is look at the totality of the patient’s experience, how many concussions, the interval between those concussions, some about duration of symptoms after each concussion, and then very much the patient’s voice about where they are in their journey, their career, their age and things of that nature.
‘And from that, we try as medical professionals to provide our best guess. But that’s really what it is, is a guess at what is someone’s future risk of concussion.’