Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa has cleared concussion protocol and is eligible to play Sunday against the Arizona Cardinals, coach Mike McDaniel said Friday.
Tagovailoa, 26, has been sidelined since suffering his third confirmed concussion in five NFL seasons in a Week 2 loss to the Buffalo Bills.
He has yet to be activated from injured reserve.
“After going through the process and having a practice where we were able to initiate some contact with him,” McDaniel said, “and then he met with an independent doctor and was fully cleared. He was out of the protocol.”
Miami had been targeting a Week 8 return for their starter.
In his absence the Dolphins (2-4) have gone 1-3 and scored only 40 points.
McDaniel said Tagovailoa has been “fully engaged” with the team throughout his recovery.
“He’s done an outstanding job of not doing anything but controlling what he can control,” McDaniel said. “So in that, he’s put his best foot forward to take care of himself as well as to be the leader of this football team, just in a different way. In all of that, he’s been fully engaged, but he’s also become very aware that he is not interested in becoming a coach anytime soon, that his love is playing football.
“He’s eager as everybody is. If you had any questions about how valuable he is, I think it’s pretty obvious.”
Skylar Thompson (one start), Tyler Huntley (three starts) and Tim Boyle filled the quarterback role. With Thompson and Huntley both banged up, the Dolphins signed veteran C.J. Beathard to the practice squad this week.
The Dolphins selected Tagovailoa with the No. 5 overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft and signed him to a four-year, $212.4 million contract extension in the offseason.
In his pro career, Tagovailoa has appeared in 55 games and is 33-20 as a starter. He has completed 66.8 percent of his passes for 13,122 yards with 83 touchdowns and 40 interceptions.