Mike McDaniel provides exciting new update on Tua’s impending return for Dolphins

Miami Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel expressed optimism in the notion that Tua Tagovailoa will suit up for the team again before the end of the season.

“Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa received encouraging feedback from a neurologist last week and is expected to play again this season, coach Mike McDaniel said for the first time on Monday,” the Miami Herald‘s Barry Jackson wrote.

“But McDaniel stopped short of saying that Tagovailoa would definitely practice next week, when he’s eligible to come off injured reserve. He will seek additional medical input this week.”

McDaniel then shared that he believes the star quarterback will play again this year.

“It’s exciting that I do believe he’ll play football this year,” McDaniel said, having previously declined to speculate on the matter.

Finally, Jackson wrote that Tagovailoa could return to the field as soon as Miami’s matchup against the Arizona Cardinals later in the month.

“According to sources, Tagovailoa hasn’t had lingering symptoms since sustaining the concussion on Sept. 12 against Buffalo,” he wrote. “That has fueled hopes that he could play Oct. 27 at home against Arizona, and that scenario remains very much in play.”

For more than a month now, the Dolphins have been without the quarterback who led the NFL in total passing yards during the 2023 regular season in Tagovailoa. He totaled 4,624 passing yards, 29 passing touchdowns and 222 first downs passing with the Dolphins, and he started all 17 of Miami’s regular-season contests.

But in his fifth NFL campaign, Tagovailoa has appeared in only two of Miami’s five regular-season contests to this point, and Miami’s offensive attack has struggled to put points on the board with him sidelined.

Miami did pick up a 15-10 win over the New England Patriots on Oct. 6 prior to its bye week.

The Dolphins have averaged just 10 points per contest across their three games without Tagovailoa this season, and Miami also has a subpar 1-2 record during that span. Before Miami beat the Patriots a little over a week ago, the team lost to the Tennessee Titans on Sept. 30 and Seattle Seahawks on Sept. 22.

It took Miami a bit to figure out who should be the team’s starting quarterback with Tagovailoa sidelined. The Dolphins experimented with starting Skylar Thompson versus the Seahawks, but he finished with only 107 passing yards before he suffered a rib injury and exited the contest.

Miami has started Tyler Huntley in each of the last two games at the signal-caller spot, and he answered the call against the Patriots. He threw for 194 yards in the game and managed to complete 18 of his 31 passing attempts to boot.

The Dolphins will go a full fortnight without playing a game, as the team hasn’t played since Oct. 6 and is scheduled to take on the Indianapolis Colts on Oct. 20. But it will seemingly have a real chance to pick up its second win in a row when that matchup rolls around, considering the Colts have a 3-3 record through six games.