Chad Johnson believes Tua Tagovailoa ‘can’t retire’ due to Dolphins humongous contract despite concussions

Chad Johnson believes Tua Tagovailoa will assess the implications of his decision to retire on his recent contract with the Dolphins.

Chad Johnson believes Tua Tagovailoa ‘can’t retire’ due to Dolphins humongous contract despite concussions

Tua Tagovailoa and Chad Johnson (Images via IMAGO)

Tua Tagovailoa suffered the third concussion of his NFL career on Thursday in the Dolphins’ 31-10 loss to the Buffalo Bills. The quarterback took a hard hit after he ran head-first into Bills safety Damar Hamlin. After he fell head-first onto the turf, his hands began to display the fencing response, which indicated trauma to the head.

After the Dolphins’ medical staff diagnosed Tagovailoa with a concussion, the NFL world spoke out and expressed concern for the quarterback’s health. His peers and veterans have urged him to consider retirement.

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Former NFL tight end Shannon Sharpe and Chad ‘Ochocinco’ Johnson discussed Tagovailoa’s injury on Nightcap Show. While the former was in favor of the quarterback hanging his cleats up, Johnson had a different view.

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Chad Johnson looked at Tua Tagovailoa‘s situation from a more practical perspective. He believes the quarterback’s recent four-year, $212 million contract will play a big role in his decision-making process. 

You got to understand. They just paid Tua. They paid Tua a lot of money because he is the future of the franchise and the quarterback. In order for them to contend, he has to be at the helm to do that."
Chad Johnson said

The Dolphins offered their quarterback all that money because the organization believes he is their ticket to the Super Bowl.

Tua Tagovailoa will need to twice as careful as his peers if decides to play

Ochocinco further acknowledged that for Miami’s vision to turn into reality, their quarterback’s health and well-being play an important role. 

He also has to be healthy and he has to protect himself so at this point, going forth, he was able to play all last season without this type of injury, without any mistakes.
Chad Johnson added

After Tagovailoa suffered two concussions in the 2022 season, he prioritized learning methods that would minimize the risk of taking a hit head-first.

Tua Tagovailoa
Tua Tagovailoa (Image via IMAGO)

This included learning Jiu-Jitsu and putting on some mass. Tagovailoa’s contract guarantees him $167 million out of which he has received $93 million of the assured sum. In an unlikely scenario, if the quarterback decides to immediately retire, then he will still walk away with the sum but forfeit the rest of the amount including $50 million which he is entitled to receive in March of 2025.

If Tua Tagovailoa is medically never cleared to play football again, he will then be able to walk away with the remainder of the amount he is owed under his contract. However, for now, he is in the league’s concussion protocol and is likely to be back in 3 weeks or based upon his progress.

Chad Johnson is optimistic about Tagovailoa returning this season but he is right as the quarterback needs to be twice as careful as his peers considering his concussion history.