Tua Tagovailoa says he didn't recover from hip issue until February

Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa missed the last two games of the 2024 season with a hip injury that was said to be unrelated to the serious hip injury he suffered while in college at Alabama.

Tagovailoa said back in January that if Miami had advanced to the postseason, he would've played in the team's wild card matchup.

But the Dolphins did not advance, which effectively gave Tagovailoa more time to recover with no pressure.

It turns out that's a good thing, based on the quarterback's answer when asked on Tuesday when he felt better from the hip issue.

"I would say it started to feel a little better more so like in February,” Tagovailoa said in his Tuesday press conference, via transcript from the team.

Tagovailoa noted that while the exact issue was identified, he didn’t want to disclose what it was. He added that if he can protect himself better, then it shouldn’t necessarily be an issue going forward.

How can he do that?

“Doing everything I can to stay available for the guys,” Tagovailoa said. “Like I’ve said before in the past, nothing changes with that. It’s knowing when is the time to give up on a play. I would say the longevity for me to be on the field with my guys is more important than whatever that one play is. You have more quarters than there would be within just that one play I’m trying to show the guys I’m competitive and whatnot. I know they know that, but it’s a nature thing. It just comes natural to me to compete in that sense, and that’s just the thing I fight with every time.”

Tagovailoa, who’s entering his sixth pro season, said that he’s using practice to develop that feel of when it’s time to bail out of a play and live to see the next down.

“I’ve got to sort of shift my mindset of this isn’t just practice where guys can’t hit me, I’ve got to take it into a sense where if this guy is here, get the ball out,” Tagovailoa said. “And if I’m scrambling and this guy is getting close, not to just hold on to it knowing they can hit me if it was real football. Just throw it away, or just run and just stop to signify to slide if you will, but I think it’s the transition and focus of bringing that game-like feel into practice.”

Tagovailoa started 11 games last season, marking the third time in the last four seasons that he played 13 or fewer games as Miami’s full-time starter. He played all 17 games in 2023, leading the league in passing yards to help Miami get to the postseason.