The Miami Dolphins have ruled quarterback Tua Tagovailoa out for Week 5 against the New York Jets, coach Mike McDaniel said Monday.
McDaniel said Tagovailoa’s MRI came back clean but that it’s “too early to give a definite timeline” for when his starting quarterback will be able to return from the concussion he suffered last Thursday night against the Cincinnati Bengals.
Tagovailoa, who remains in the concussion protocol, was at the Dolphins’ facility on Monday, a source told ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler.
He is expected to be interviewed early this week in the NFL and NFL Players Association’s joint investigation of his quick return to the Week 3 game against the Buffalo Bills, sources told ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
The league and players’ association indicated Saturday that their review is ongoing while adding they agree that “modifications to the concussion protocol are needed to enhance player safety.”
A league official told Schefter that the investigation is expected to last another week or two, and the results will be announced “almost immediately after.”
Tagovailoa initially seemed to exhibit concussion symptoms after the hit to his head late in the first half of Miami’s Week 3 home game against Buffalo, but he was cleared by a team physician and an unaffiliated neurotrauma consultant to return in the second half. Tagovailoa and the team later said his legs were wobbly because of a back injury.
After the Thursday hit, in which 6-foot-3, 340-pound Bengals defensive tackle Josh Tupou slammed Tagovailoa backward into the turf, the quarterback’s hands froze up and his fingers flexed awkwardly in front of his face mask for several seconds as he lay on the ground in Cincinnati. He remained on the ground for several minutes until he was taken away on a stretcher and sent to a hospital. He was released from the hospital and flew home with the Dolphins hours later.
The NFLPA fired the unaffiliated neurotrauma consultant on Saturday, saying in a joint statement with the league that they “anticipate changes to the protocol being made in the coming days based on what has been learned thus far in the review process.” Sources told ESPN that the firing came after it was found the consultant made “several mistakes” in his evaluation of Tagovailoa.
Teddy Bridgewater, who replaced Tagovailoa in the Week 4 loss against the Bengals, will get the start on Sunday against the Jets at MetLife Stadium.
ESPN’s Marcel Louis-Jacques contributed to this report.