Why The Dolphins Might Have Buyer's Remorse Extending Tua

Week Two of the 2024 NFL season was not a good week for the team. The Miami Dolphins got dominated by the Buffalo Bills and lost the game 31-10 in Hard Rock Stadium. That's not the worst news as Tua Tagovailoa suffered yet another concussion in this game.

It was a brutal scene as Tua took a nasty hit. When on the ground he had a fencing response to the concussion which was super scary. He managed to walk off the field on his power, but it is clear Tua was dealing with a severe concussion.

Mike McDaniel declined to speculate on how long Tua would be out, but it's clear that Miami has to put him in Injured Reserved while he recovers. With his injuries, it would be malpractice if he stepped onto the field. Tony Gonzalez said it best after the game when he said "It's time (for Tagovailoa) to move on". With how many concussions he has had it is dangerous for him to keep playing as the concussions get worse and worse.

How Much Is Miami Paying Tua Tagovailoa?

The buyer's remorse is clearly on the back of the minds of that organization. Not a few months ago the Dolphins signed him to a 4-year 212.4-million-dollar contract. 167.17 million dollars of that contract is guaranteed.

43 million of that guaranteed money has been paid. If Tua is medically forced to retire, he will collect all 124 million dollars. There is a chance that happens as remember he almost retired in 2022 due to that concussion. If he medically can't get cleared to play again Miami is going to have to pay so much money. Even if he's cleared to return and decides to hang it up on his own decision, Miami still has to pay around 90 million dollars.

With his injury history including the number of bad concussions, it's super risky for the Dolphins to have signed him to that deal to begin with. Heck, it's super risky for Tua to play football now. If he keeps playing his life beyond sports is severely going to be impacted. It's just unsafe in general and nobody wants to see Tua badly injured, or God forbid go crazy later in life.

The injury is a tremendous issue, but even when healthy Tua has looked really off these two games. He looked sloppy most of the Jaguars game, but against Buffalo, he was worse. This was the weakest the Bills have looked in years, especially on defense, yet Tua made some brutal throws.

It's not just his throws that were off, but his confidence was crushed. Rewatching the game he made some rookie mistakes including turning the wrong way on multiple handoffs. Statistically, it was bad as he threw for 145 passing yards, 1 touchdown, and 3 interceptions. Now it is his first two games of the season, but even in the primetime and important playoff game matchups, Tua has mostly put up disappointing performances.

It's a good argument to say that the Dolphins have buyer's remorse not 2 games into this contract. The organization, locker room, and coaching staff love Tua the person. If they didn't then they would have parted ways with him long ago and maybe Brian Flores would still be the head coach with Deshaun as the QB. Then again thank goodness they didn't with how evil Deshaun is with the amount of assault and harassment allegations that have been made.

It's going to be something to keep an eye on with what happens to Tua. Hopefully, he makes the decision that benefits him the most and his long-term health. Whatever he chooses to do NFL fans must understand and respect his decision.

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