As the Miami Dolphins start their bye week, we're one week closer to the time quarterback Tua Tagovailoa is eligible to return to practice and the signs all continue to be positive.
While maintaining his vow to not discuss timelines, head coach Mike McDaniel did offer an encouraging update Monday on Tua's progress from his latest concussion, along with the plan for his quarterback this week.
"The way that will look is there's some expert consultation that he has scheduled for this week," McDaniel told reporters the day after the Dolphins' 15-10 victory against the New England Patriots. "And then we'll address ... the final stages of protocol won't be achieved until we bring them back off IR and that first practice is had. Until then we're just communicating and everything has been so far so good."
As McDaniel indicated, Tagovailoa technically can't clear concussion protocol until he's gone through a practice with no symptoms surfacing, and that can't happen until Tagovailoa becomes eligible to return to practice. And that will happen the week of the Arizona Cardinals game at Hard Rock Stadium, which will follow the Week 7 game against the Indianapolis Colts when the Dolphins return to action following their bye.
The IR rules stipulate that up to eight players can be designated to return for each team during the regular season, but those players have to sit out a minimum of four games, not four weeks.
Tagovailoa already has sat out the games against the Seattle Seahawks, Tennessee Titans and New England, with the team getting its first win in his absence Sunday.
Tua joined his teammates on the road for the games at Seattle and New England.
Perhaps the most encouraging news of all from McDaniel came when he was asked whether he's gotten any feedback from medical experts telling him that Tagovailoa needs an extended recovery time before he should get back on the field.
"There's been nothing negative this far, no," McDaniel said. "Nothing negative this far. But we're still in the process, so we don't rush that process and we don't try to do anything that negatively impacts that. So, you know, I'll stay within the guidelines that I've built for myself."
