Reporter details how Dolphins' Tua Tagovailoa avoided concussions this season

Marcel Louis-Jacques of ESPN detailed for a piece published Tuesday how Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa spent last offseason working with Renzo Gracie Jiu-Jitsu Academy Of Weston lead coach Adrian Alsina and jiu-jitsu enthusiast Cory Davis to avoid the type of concussion issues that threatened Tagovailoa's career less than a year ago. 

"It's a lot like, if you were to go on antibiotics, you have to do the full thing," Alsina told Louis-Jacques about the "break-fall training" Tagovailoa completed. "Halfway through your antibiotics, you're going to feel great, but if you stop right there, then this disease is going to take over and it could potentially be worse. So right now, Tua is being very successful, but I still think that there is a little bit more work to be done before he fully goes on his own. And of course, we are working with his team, and these are things that they could do on their own during practice and stuff, but I think there's a little bit of work to be done still."

Tagovailoa suffered a minimum of two reported concussions during the 2022 season, spent over a month in the league's concussion protocol last winter and admitted in April 2023 he considered retiring due to concerns related to his history of head injuries. It was hoped following the 2022 campaign that training in jiu-jitsu and sporting a newly designed helmet during practices would prevent Tagovailoa from experiencing concussion-related setbacks, and he ultimately played in 17 games this season. 

"We knew it was going to work," Davis said about Tagovailoa's training. "It's just a matter of if he was going to implement it the way we wanted to. There were a few times midseason where he was getting slammed, and his head did not touch that turf. So that makes us proud, and I don't even know the right word, but potentially saving his career."

According to ESPN stats, Tagovailoa finished this past regular season leading the NFL with 4,624 passing yards and ranked 10th among qualified players with a 60.5 adjusted QBR. He tossed 29 touchdown passes and 14 interceptions en route to helping the Dolphins earn an 11-6 record. 

Per Louis-Jacques, Tagovailoa practices when he learned last offseason on Thursdays but likely won't work with Davis and Alsina again before the Dolphins play their final game of the postseason tournament. 

"There were opportunities for us to connect with some of the jiu-jitsu coaches, and we've actually done a little bit here as well," Dolphins quarterbacks coach Darrell Bevell explained. "They were able to show us some of the things that they were doing, so that they're not here all the time, we could continue it to keep him connected with it."

Miami plays at the 11-6 Kansas City Chiefs in the wild-card round of the playoffs this coming Saturday night. As of early Tuesday afternoon, DraftKings Sportsbook listed the Dolphins as four-point underdogs versus the Chiefs.