Las Vegas Raiders head coach says he’d tell Tua Tagovailoa to retire following latest concussion

By Thomas Schlachter and Kevin Dotson, CNN

(CNN) — Las Vegas Raiders head coach Antonio Pierce said he would tell Tua Tagovailoa to retire after the Miami Dolphins quarterback suffered another concussion.

In Thursday night’s 31-10 loss against the Buffalo Bills, Tagovailoa had to leave the field in the third quarter after he dove for a first down and took a hit to the head by Bills safety Damar Hamlin.

The 26-year-old stayed on the ground at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens and was attended to by Dolphins trainers. Tagovailoa eventually walked off the field under his power and was replaced by backup quarterback Skylar Thompson.

Pierce has since said he would advise Tagovailoa to step away from the game.

“I would tell him to retire, it’s not worth it,” the Raiders head coach told reporters on Friday. “It’s not worth to play the game. I haven’t witnessed anything like I’ve seen that’s happened to him three times. Scary. You can see right away the players’ faces on the field. You can see the sense of urgency from everybody to get Tua help.”

Tagovailoa has a history of concussions, having suffered multiple during the 2022 season. In April 2023, he said he considered walking away from football “for a time” after the concussion issues.

“I just think at some point – he’s going to live longer than he is going to play football. Take care of your family,” Pierce added.

Miami Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel said that he was more focused on Tagovailoa’s well-being than the team’s future following the incident.

“It’s important that he gets healthy day by day and in that the actual best thing I can do is not try to assess what this even means from a football standpoint,” McDaniel told reporters on a video conference on Friday.

McDaniel was also quick to shut down questions about whether Tagovailoa might be contemplating retirement.

“I think it would be so wrong of me to even sniff that subject,” McDaniel answered. “You’re talking about his career, right? His career is his.”

“The most important person in this whole equation is Tua,” McDaniel said later.

“His opinion and what he wants to do with his life and his career coupled with the experts in neuroscience, those are the driving forces behind those actions.”

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CNN’s Jacob Lev contributed to reporting.