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Nick Saban shares what Tua Tagovailoa should do with career
Former Alabama Crimson Tide head coach Nick Saban. William McLelland-Imagn Images

Nick Saban shares what Tua Tagovailoa should do with career after concussion

The immediate aftermath of Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa being diagnosed with another concussion on Thursday night has been a wave of opinions on what he should do with his career.

One of the most prominent opinions is that he should retire while he is still young and protect his health as best as he possibly can. 

His former college head coach at Alabama, Nick Saban, is one of the many people in the football world that has an opinion on the matter, and he believes that Tagovailoa should do his best to avoid the outside noise and simply make a medical decision. Whatever that decision may be.

Saban made the comments during an appearance on "The Pat McAfee Show" on Friday.

“Tua is such a great competitor, but I think this has to be a medical decision,” Saban said. “I think Tua and his family should listen to all the medical evidence to make sure that you’re not compromising your future health-wise by continuing to play football. But I think that’s a medical decision, I don’t think that’s something for me to speculate on. I know some people are doing it, and more power to them. But I think Tua should not be influenced by that, the family should not be influenced by that. It should be all based on medical professionals.”

That came as Las Vegas Raiders head coach Antonio Pierce said he would urge the quarterback to retire, while several others in the NFL world shared similar sentiments.

At the end of the day, Tagovailoa is a competitor and has worked his entire life to reach this point. Walking away from that at such a young age is an incredibly difficult decision. But that young age is also what makes the entire situation so scary for his long-term health. He has an entire lifetime ahead of him, and the more we learn about concussions and head injuries in sports, the more concerning it gets to see him keep taking hits like the one on Thursday.

He is going to have a lot of top doctors and experts around him to help with that information and ultimately his decision. There is no timetable for when he could realistically return to the Dolphins lineup if he chooses to do so.

Adam Gretz

Adam Gretz is a freelance writer based in Pittsburgh. He covers the NHL, NFL, MLB and NBA. Baseball is his favorite sport -- he is nearly halfway through his goal of seeing a game in every MLB ballpark. Catch him on Twitter @AGretz

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