After suffering another significant concussion in Week 2 against the Buffalo Bills, Miami Dolphins QB Tua Tagovailoa was placed on IR. There was a ton of speculation about his future in football due to his history with scary concussions. He is up to four concussions, three in the NFL and one in college, and two of them have resulted in scary moments on the field. According to ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler on X, Tagovailoa is expected to resume playing at some point this season.
“Mike McDaniel to reporters today: Tua Tagovailoa will not play this week but is expected to resume playing in 2024,” Fowler wrote. “Tagovailoa is still seeking information and ‘the process continues.’ ”
In his absence, the Dolphins started Skylar Thompson and then Tyler Huntley. They got a win in Week 5, but they have otherwise struggled with a 2-3 overall record. After getting placed on IR after Week 2, Tagovailoa has to miss a minimum of four games. With their bye week in the mix, that makes him eligible to return for Week 8 at the earliest.
The Dolphins are a team that paid a lot of players significant money. They were trying to build toward a window to win now and have themselves in a difficult situation with managing their salary cap into the future. That is why it made sense, and why it was speculated by several notable media figures, that Steelers QB Russell Wilson would make a logical trade target for the Dolphins. A couple weeks ago, Tom Pelissero reported that the Dolphins had not made any calls about Wilson.
With Tagovailoa expected to return this year, that can probably be written off as a possibility. The trade deadline is on Nov. 5, so there are only three more weeks of football. For the Steelers, there are only two more games until then with the deadline occurring during their bye week.
If the Steelers decide that Justin Fields is both the short- and long-term answer at quarterback, it might make sense to trade Wilson, who carries a miniscule cap hit this season. Though I am not convinced that the Steelers won’t give Wilson a look as their starting quarterback.
