NFL will not have role in Tua Tagovailoa's potential return - ESPN

As NFL officials touted a record low of preseason concussions Friday, they pledged that the league won't impose an outcome for its most notable concussion patient.

Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, who has been on injured reserve since Sept. 17 after suffering the third documented concussion of his pro career, is «seeing top experts» around the country, NFL chief medical officer Dr. Allen Sills told reporters during a conference call.

But other than enforcing the concussion protocol it administrates along with the NFL Players Association, Sills said the league will not have a role in determining when — or if — Tagovailoa returns to the field.

«Patient autonomy and medical decision-making really matters,» Sills said. «And I think that's what we have to recognize goes on with our concussion protocol as well. Ultimately when patients make decisions about considering their careers, it has to reflect that autonomy that's generated from discussions with medical experts giving them best medical advice.»

Sills, a neurosurgeon, added that there is no «detailed formula» that can predict the future risk of concussions for Tagovailoa or anyone else.

«It's not like we can put in your number of concussions and how long between them and your age and some unusual constant or Avogadro's number that always seemed to be in freshman chemistry somehow, and come up with a risk,» Sills said, speaking generally and not about Tagovailoa in particular. «It just doesn't work that way. So what we end up having to do is look at the totality of the patient's experience, how many concussions, the interval between those concussions, some about duration of symptoms after each concussion, and then very much the patient's voice about where they are in