Dear Tua Tagovailoa,
We have to talk, man. You’ve gotta pull the plug before you throw away the rest of your life.
The whole country saw what happened to you during Thursday night’s Dolphins vs. Bills game. You didn’t just get a concussion, you got your whole body knocked into fits.
Not the first time, either. Once is probably too much, but three times?
It’s not lost on anyone either that Damar Hamlin laid the hit on you – another NFL guy still walking the Earth by the grace of God and modern medicine.
No one knows but you if you can actually remember what 2022 was like. But trust us, we remember.
To this day, I can’t get the image of you stumbling around punch drunk late in the season against Buffalo out of my head. Even worse—you stayed in to finish that game!
Tua, life after football can be beautiful, and we all want to you to experience that.
We all get it. You’re coming off your best NFL campaign to date. Face of the franchise and all that. A comeback from adversity, it’s a great storyline.
But Tua, man, think about Annah. Think about Ace and Maisey.
Every athlete since the dawn of time has come to that moment where they had to hang it up. For the lucky ones, the timing is of their own accord. Unfortunately, you didn’t get that break, and it’s a shame.
But there’s no shame in knowing what matters. Because Tua, if you speak with anyone from the boxing community, or to the families of the NFL players who’ve had terrible CTE, once the head goes, everything goes.
You have your entire life ahead of you. Take care of yourself, man. If not, you won’t be able to take care of anyone around you.
With love,
-Gabriel Santiago