Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa is fresh off an injury-riddled 2024 campaign.
First, he suffered a concussion in Miami’s loss to the Buffalo Bills back on Sept. 12 and missed the Dolphins’ following four games as a result.
The injury bug then came back to bite him once again near the tail end of the season. He was sidelined for the team’s final two games of its 17-game slate thanks to a hip injury.
Tagovailoa has had poor injury luck dating back to his time playing football at the collegiate level at the University of Alabama, and according to Omar Kelly of the Miami Herald, around a dozen NFL teams allegedly had Tagovailoa off their draft boards because of medical reasons. The Dolphins selected Tagovailoa with the No. 5 overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft.
“About a dozen NFL teams had Tua Tagovailoa off their draft board because of his medical history, concerns he would have a short NFL career,” Kelly wrote on X.
“This is a FACTS. The Dolphins did not. That was heir choice. They also ranked Tua ahead of [Justin] Herbert at the time. This is FACTS. They had Jordan Love ranked in the teens on their board. This is FACT.
“We will not be rewriting history. Not gonna happen.”
After Tagovailoa put himself on the map by helping Alabama win the national championship in the 2017 season, he was able to appear in all 15 of the Crimson Tide’s games in the 2018 campaign. Unfortunately, he suffered multiple injuries in the 2019 season and only appeared in nine games, marking the beginning of a troublesome trend.
The 27-year-old signal-caller has seen his injury luck or lack thereof in college carry over to the NFL level. The 2024 campaign isn’t the only season of his pro career to this point that has been marred by injuries.
He sustained multiple concussions in the 2022 season alone and was limited to just 13 games played. That came after other injury woes limited him to 13 games in the 2021 season as well.
In hindsight, NFL teams were reasonable for being concerned about Tagovailoa’s medical history, but at the same time, his play at the NFL level when at full strength speaks for itself. In the 2023 season, he led the NFL in total passing yards with 4,624 and helped the team to an impressive 11-6 record.
Hopefully, moving forward, Tagovailoa can stay out of harm’s way and emulate the individual and collective success that he enjoyed in the 2023 season.
