Dolphins place QB Tua Tagovailoa on IR after concussion

MIAMI — The Miami Dolphins have placed Tua Tagovailoa on injured reserve Tuesday after the quarterback suffered another concussion in Thursday’s loss to the Buffalo Bills.

Per NFL rules, Tagovailoa must remain on injured reserve for at least four games. There is no timetable for how long Miami plans to keep him on IR as he focuses on his health before his return to the field.

It is the third diagnosed concussion of Tagovailoa’s NFL career.

Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel on Monday said Tagovailoa wouldn’t be placed on IR until more information became available, but the decision was made Tuesday after further evaluation.

Miami signed quarterback Tyler Huntley from the Baltimore Ravens‘ practice squad Monday. Per NFL rules, the Dolphins must allocate a spot on their 53-man roster to Huntley for at least their next three games.

“We got to learn firsthand a nice reminder of how it only takes one play and what you think your depth is changes abruptly,” McDaniel said. “So that’s a move for moving forward to secure some depth in case of the unforeseen, which is timelines for us as it relates to Tua.”

Third-year quarterback Skylar Thompson will start Sunday’s game against the Seattle Seahawks now that Tagovailoa has officially been ruled out.

Thompson did not play during the 2023 season, but he started three games as a rookie in 2022, including a playoff loss on the road to the Bills. McDaniel said the move to add Huntley “was not any direct reflection on Skylar” and was made to bolster the team’s depth.

Huntley has started 10 games in his four-year career, mostly for the Ravens. He was named to the Pro Bowl in 2022 after helping guide them to the playoffs in place of Lamar Jackson. He started Baltimore’s playoff loss to the Cincinnati Bengals.

“I do think that it helps the dynamics of the [quarterbacks] room to add another guy with starting history to this team,” McDaniel said of Huntley. “He’s a guy that’s a signal-caller that a team can get behind. … I think this is more directly to back up Skylar, and then you always let competition play out when it’s out on the field. But this is a depth move, for sure.”

Tagovailoa suffered the injury while scrambling up the middle for a first down and making forcible contact with his helmet to the forearm of Bills safety Damar Hamlin. Tagovailoa immediately went into a fencing response with his arms in an unnatural position.

Medical trainers attended to Tagovailoa for several minutes as players kneeled around him. He was ultimately able to walk off the field and into the locker room under his own power but was quickly ruled out for the rest of the game.

The next four games will push Tagovailoa’s career total of games missed due to injury to 14 since 2020. He played all 18 of the Dolphins’ regular-season and playoff games in 2023.