Tua Tagovailoa has sustained three concussions over the course of his NFL career, so two of his teammates with the Miami Dolphins — Tyreek Hill and Raheem Mostert — have recently made it clear that they want Tagovailoa to work on sliding.
Hill cited a moment from Miami’s loss to the Colts on Oct. 20 when discussing how fans of the Dolphins can encourage Tagovailoa to avoid contact at the end of plays.
“When we were playing against the Colts, you see the fans start clapping for Anthony Richardson when he slid,” Hill said this week. “I said our fans need to clap for Tua, make him slide.”
Mostert also noted that it’s ultimately up to Tagovailoa to protect himself on the field.
“We’ve been talking to him ever since his injury. I’ve been telling him, ‘Hey, you need to work on sliding,’” Mostert said. “And we all joke around and laugh, but on a serious note, he knows that he has to protect himself a little bit better and moving forward, only he can control those things.”
It seems as if Tagovailoa is trending toward playing against the Arizona Cardinals on Oct. 27. Head coach Mike McDaniel said earlier in the week that he’s hopeful regarding Tagovailoa’s chances of suiting up against Arizona, and the 26-year-old even practiced with the team on Wednesday.
If Tagovailoa does indeed start at quarterback for the Dolphins versus the Cardinals, that would mark his first game played in over a month. He went down with a concussion against the Buffalo Bills on Sept. 12, and he threw three interceptions compared to only one touchdown before he exited the game.
Hill and Mostert should be thrilled that Tagovailoa could very well make his return to the field on Sunday, as both players enjoyed career years in the 2023 season with him leading the offense. Mostert ran for 1,000-plus yards for the first time in his NFL career a season ago, and Hill totaled the most receiving yards by a Dolphin in a single season with 1,799.
Mostert has still played at a high level at times during Tagovailoa’s absence, as he finished with 80 rushing yards against the New England Patriots on Oct. 6 and 50 versus the Indianapolis Colts on Oct. 20. But that sentiment arguably does not apply to Hill, considering he hasn’t finished with more than 69 receiving yards in any single game without the signal-caller.
Dolphins fans should hope that Tagovailoa heeds the advice he has received from his teammates and protects his body at the end of plays by sliding.
