In Miami, the question about Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa doesn't involve play. He looked every bit the part of a franchise signal-caller under Mike McDaniel's tutelage. The 25-year-old's health is another issue entirely.
Tagovailoa suffered two official concussions last season and possibly a third that wasn't reported for nebulous reasons. His situation directly led to the NFL and NFLPA revising their mutually agreed-upon concussion protocol policy.
Obviously, Tagovailoa chose not to step away from the game. Instead, he took a different approach through the practice of jiu-jitsu.
"For guys at my position, we barely get hit throughout practices, throughout the offseason, even going into training camp," Tagovailoa said, per ESPN's Marcel Louis-Jacques. "We don't even get touched until the season starts.
"So I mean, with jiu-jitsu, I've been thrown airborne, I've been put in many uncomfortable positions for me to learn how to fall and try to react throughout those positions that I'm getting thrown around in."
The 2020 fifth overall draft pick also changed his overall training regimen and added muscle to better endure the NFL's physicality. He's now up to 225 pounds.
A healthy season will instill hope for Tagovailoa's long-term viability as the Dolphins' starting quarterback.
