Dolphins' Tua Tagovailoa addresses playing after considering retirement

Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa is back for another season after he briefly considered calling time on his playing career following a worrisome 2022 campaign. 

"I think being appreciative of being able to continue to play," Tagovailoa explained about his mindset, per Joe Schad of The Palm Beach Post. "Yeah, the thing with that is, you just never can take it for granted... Some guys have the luxury of finishing whole seasons and other guys as myself, you know, I never had that luxury. So definitely cherishing the opportunity."

Tagovailoa emerged as a legitimate Most Valuable Player candidate during his first season playing under head coach Mike McDaniel but also suffered a minimum of two reported concussions, the second of which kept him in the league's concussion protocol for over a month. The 25-year-old admitted this past spring he considered retiring for reasons related to his long-term health, and he later acknowledged he knows he needs to "make it through the entire season." 

To date, Tagovailoa has never played in more than 13 games in a single pro campaign. 

"Oh, I wouldn't like to [play in every game]," Tagovailoa added during his comments. "I would love to do that. Oh my gosh, I would love to do that."

The Dolphins picked up the fifth-year option attached to Tagovailoa's rookie contract that guarantees him around $23.2M for the 2024 season but won't hold talks with his camp about a possible extension until after the upcoming campaign. McDaniel suggested his QB1 is all-in on giving everything he can to the Dolphins even though he thought about riding off into the sunset earlier this year. 

"I took that as a young athlete, you hear a bunch of noise, and you agree or disagree," McDaniel said. "He digested that. He didn't necessarily tell me, but he really didn't have to, either."

For now, Tagovailoa will concentrate on attempting to earn a Week 1 win at the Los Angeles Chargers this coming Sunday. As of Thursday afternoon, OddsChecker listed the Dolphins as underdogs (+145, +3) for that matchup.