The Miami Dolphins are coming off their Week 6 bye and will face the Indianapolis Colts on the road this upcoming Sunday. When they do, they’ll continue to roll out a backup quarterback with Tua Tagovailoa still on injured reserve after suffering his latest concussion. However, it appears the Dolphins could soon see their starter reenter the fray.
Speaking to reporters on Monday, Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel was asked about the status of his starting quarterback and noted the news they’ve received continues to be positive while adding he expects Tua to play at some point this season. However, he did not specifically say whether or not Tagovailoa would begin practicing next week. He is first eligible to come off injured reserve after the team’s matchup in Week 7.
“There’s still information that he’s seeking this week,” McDaniel said. “As far as timelines go, I know he’s not playing this week, and I do expect to see him playing football in 2024, but where that is exactly, we’ll let the process continue since we still have time before we even could entertain anything.”
While the return timeline isn’t concrete, it’s notable that McDaniel is openly speaking about Tagovailoa playing again this season, which is the first time that he’s publicly entertained that possibility since the signal-caller went down against the Bills in Week 2.
“I didn’t really allow myself any sort of contemplation moments on whether he would or wouldn’t [play again this season],” McDaniel said. “It is exciting that I do believe he’ll play football again this year.
“I never went down that rabbit hole of if he would or wouldn’t just because I’ve learned through circumstance how that’s the wrong question to be asking. The right questions are completely 100% toward the human being and the player as a result.”
After this week, the Dolphins can open up Tagovailoa’s practice window and would have 21 days from that point to activate him onto the 53-man roster.
