Is Tua Done? (Hour 1)

Live from the play show, get out over the ostentatious studios of the Infinity Sports Network here in beautiful New York City, sitting on top of the 10th floor of 345 Hudson Street. Welcome on in to what is a Football Friday edition of the Zach Gelb show across all the great local Infinity Sports Network affiliates, Sirius XM, Channel 158, the free Odyssey app, and of course, streaming live on YouTube. 855-212-4227 is the number to jump on in. That's 855-212-4227, and you can also get at me on Instagram, where I'm straight flexing, or via the good old cesspool of Twitter, X, at Zach Gelb.

That's Z-A-C-H-G-E-L-B. Armando Salguro, Outkicks senior NFL writer, is going to stop by 40 minutes from now, and then coming up at 5.20 p.m. Eastern time today, 2.20 p.m. Pacific. We will be joined by Arielle Epstein, who does a great job as a Fanatics betting analyst. She will be my opponent this week for NFL picks, and I was off to a horrific start last week.

I can't do worse, so I'll see if I will find the way out of the basement. Today is just a show that you never want to do. Let's just be real. I know we all know the risks of playing football. We all know the nasty injury concussion part of the game, but last night, it just changes on one play, where if Tua Tunga Vailoa didn't suffer, his fourth NFL concussion. We would have been sitting here today, breaking down how the Buffalo Bills dominated the Miami Dolphins, and not only how the Buffalo Bills dominated the Miami Dolphins, but how Tua Tunga Vailoa did not play well in the game. Tua Tunga Vailoa did not play well in the game, but how Tua Tunga Vailoa did not play well in the game. Because what we saw happen last night on that fourth down conversion, it just shows you, even when you think Tua is starting to figure out the NFL and he's moving away from getting concussed, how quickly it could pop back up once again.

Because we all know what happened in 2022. In 2022, I know they listed as him suffering two concussions. He suffered three concussions.

The fact that the NFL tries to tell us that game against the Buffalo Bills was a back injury, it was jackassery at the time, and it's still a bunch of hogwash to this day. But last year, that was a major storyline going into the season. It was, will Tua Tunga Vailoa be able to get through the season healthy? And last year, he was able to get through a season healthy.

And I do a weekly hit on Hochman and Crowder on 560 WQAM, and I brought it back up in the offseason in one of the segments that I do with them, and I said, guys, it's still a question. I know Dolphins fans don't want to hear this, but Tua now has to show you that he could replicate what he did a year ago. Because what he did a year ago, in my opinion, and I know you can't predict injuries and you can't predict concussions, but in all likelihood, unfortunately, was an anomaly. But when you see the way that it played out last night, and two of the person like we love, I was a huge fan of Tua Tunga Vailoa at Alabama.

When I did 6 to 10 p.m. Eastern time, he joined me at least two times. You know, on the air on the show when he was at Alabama and he was the all that quarterback, like the thing in college football. And we know he suffered, right, a hip injury at Alabama, shoulder injuries, like really nasty injuries. But it's one thing when you, let's say, tear an ACL or you have an Achilles injury or, you know, you have a hip dislocation, those things you could recover from, right, and you could bounce back the next year. But when we're talking about not only one concussion and one concussion could knock out someone's career, but three in one season that occurred in 2022, and then he gets through a year where there's no documented concussion. And then two weeks into the season, he gets another concussion. I don't care if you're the biggest dolphin fan in the world or not.

I don't care if you actually care for the players or not. But if you are a decent human being, if you have a heart, you'll watch that game last night and your heart breaks. And you just sit there and you go, oh, no, like, here we go again. And this is the dreadful part of the game.

And I get it. Mike McDaniel could lecture us today, and I don't think he did it in a condescending way, to be fair. And I think he did it from the right place and the right spot. So let me take that back in terms of the lecturing. But Mike McDaniel could get out in front of the media today and say, guys, it's not right to talk about the future of Tuatunga Vailoa. No one should be telling Tuah how to decide his future.

So this is all I'll say. If I was making the decision and I'm fully cognizant, I am not Tuatunga Vailoa. But if I was making the decision, I got paid, figure out the legality of the contract and all that stuff, and I would retire.

You have made more than enough money where you could provide for your family for the rest of your life and also your children's life and your children's children's life. That's just the fact of the situation if you manage your money the right way. And also Tuah has put in so much work. Tuah was at one point such a great player and he's a great competitor. And right there's so much diligent work that goes in to put yourself in a position to be a top five draft pick, to get the deal that Tuatunga Vailoa got this offseason. But what does that work and putting in that work mean if you can't enjoy life after football? Because this is the scary part of it.

This is the reality. I'm not a doctor, but I've talked to enough NFL players throughout the years. And I care about the mental health of these NFL players.

And unfortunately, the physical injuries that they suffer in this game impacts their health mentally and physically moving forward. And when you've suffered four concussions already that we know of in your young NFL career, I don't know how I could sit here today and say Tuatunga Vailoa has to return to the football field. And I'll just tell you from a viewer standpoint, if he does return to the football field and it wouldn't shock me if he does, because that's how dedicated to football Tuatunga Vailoa is and how much he loves the sport. But as a viewer, after what we've already gone through in 2022 and the pain that we saw and the frightening images that we saw Tuatunga Vailoa go through in 2022, and then you have now another concussion in 2024, every single time I'm watching Tua, I'll be thinking about one thing.

And that will be the past and what has happened in the past. And you will be sitting there and you will not be focusing, does he hit Tyreek Hill for a big play? Does he hit Jalen Waddle for a big play?

Does he get the ball to Raheem Mostert and Devon H. Do the Dolphins win the big game or not? You're not going to be thinking about that. You're going to be thinking about, I just hope this guy doesn't get hurt again. I just hope he doesn't get concussed again. Because you start to think about life for Tua after football. And you hope he gets to enjoy life after football. And you hope he gets to enjoy everything he worked so diligently to do on a football field.

And all the benefits that come from it, you hope that he gets to live a long life in a healthy state. But it's only going to get worse. Like he plays again. No one could sit there and guarantee you that Tuatunga Vailoa isn't going to get another concussion.

You can't. And you know what's scary about last night? It wasn't even this vicious, high impact type of collision. That was a normal football play that happened last night. And you once again saw the fencing position right with the hands of Tuatunga Vailoa.

And it was a flashback to that Thursday Night Football game where we all saw what we saw and it was horrifying. So I hope Tua doesn't play again. I really hope he doesn't play again. And it's his decision. It's his family decision.

They make that decision and we'll see what it is. But I've unfortunately seen this too many times. Where if you ask me, Zach, do you think that was the last time we've seen Tuatunga Vailoa on a football field? I will reiterate what I said once again. I hope it is.

But do I think it is? I don't think that's the last time we see Tua. Because most of the time, 9.9 times out of 10, when you leave it up to the player, and if the player gets cleared, whether that's in three weeks, whether that's in two months, or if it's for next season, the player is going to want to play. Because Tua has grown up his entire life with football as the focus. But now, and we know Tua is a family man, but now it's time for family to step in and hopefully persuade Tua to no longer play football. But I can't sit here and say that last night when I was watching that, even though I hope it's the last time, unfortunately you have to hope this way, that that was the last time we see Tuatunga Vailoa on the field. If you said to me right now, Zach, do you think that's actually the last time we see him on the field?

I would probably say, it's not. And you look at it now moving forward, because Tua is held to a different standard because of the way that we've seen these concussions suffer publicly in big games, in primetime games, and the way that we've seen these instances occur. Like if any other quarterback in the NFL suffered a concussion, like let's say it was Josh Allen last night, in all likelihood Josh Allen's out for the following week and then he returns after that. But for Tua, because of what we see in the past and how public this discourse has been, you know, once you got past last night, wow, it happened again, you immediately look at the schedule and see, okay, if there is a way for him to get back on the field, what game is it going to be? And their bye week, and it feels weird to have this conversation, but we'll have it, their bye week is week six. So they play Seattle next Sunday, then their Tennessee Monday night, and that's a home game for the Dolphins, and then they're at New England on October 6th. I would be shocked going into that bye week of week six if we see Tua before that bye week. You know, if he does want to play, maybe he gets cleared and maybe it's October 20th, but I can't sit here and say that he's definitely coming back this year. I can't.

And it would probably be best for him if he doesn't come back this year. But I'm not a doctor. I'm not the medical expert.

And also, I am not to a tongue of Iloa. And that's the thing. Tua will ultimately make this decision and give him his time, give him his space, and we'll see what that decision is. Last night, like here's a scary thing, right? They come back from commercial break. And I'm just trying to to relate to like the viewer. You see him come back from the commercial break and you're like, oh, thank God he's up and he's walking off. Right.

But just because you're walking off, he may not even know where he is. And it was such a powerful image last night when Mike McDaniel kissed him on his head. Because it shows how serious this is and how scary it is, because even though he got through healthy as we know it last year, that was on everyone's mind. It was on everyone's mind through all of last season.

And then in week two, after a great week one comeback, boom, concussion in the third quarter. And it's just where we are right back in 2022. So here's the question that I'll ask today and you could chime in eight five five two one two forty two twenty seven. Eight five five two one two forty two twenty seven. It's also up on Twitter at Zach Galib, also at INF Sports.

That is where you can find it, too. After suffering another concussion. Do you want to see Tuatunga Vailoa play again in the NFL?

And my answer is no. And I think he should retire. Eighty five percent agree with me.

Fifteen percent say yes. I want to see him play again. Let him play again. Eight five five two one two forty two twenty seven. Eight five five two one two forty two twenty seven. Let's start things off with our buddy Adam in Toronto. First up on the Zach Galib show.

Adam with Shaken. Zach, man, listen, let's go to the unimportant thing first. Bill's got a big, that's a whole team win, man. That's unimportant. But what really matters, this just, I'm sick of watching this, Zach. It's gut wrenching.

I'm with you. You know, it's ultimately up to Tuatunga. It's his decision. Nobody can tell him. But listen, if I'm a family member, if I'm his spouse, I'm not letting him go back out there.

I'm watching this as a build. I could not imagine being his family member and watching him go out and do this. And it's, you know, it's crazy because now it's happening. And the best thing with concussions, Zach, is that once you get one, it happens again and again and again. It happens easier each and every time. That wasn't even a hard hit he took.

I would say he hit Lamar Hamlin harder with his own head, but just the way he fell and then collapsed. I can't get the image out of my head, man. Take the money, man. Take the money and move away.

And just, you're financially secure forever, Zach. Yeah. And also, like, people are going to say, oh, he should have slid or something. Like, it was fourth down. He was going for the first down. If he slid, he may not get the first down.

So then people would have been ripping him for that. And it's also, it was crazy when I watched the replay, because I didn't realize this at first. It was very dreary and a very ominous feel, knowing what happened to DeMar Hamlin. It was just crazy enough that that play, DeMar Hamlin, was the defensive player on the field. Like, that was just an ominous, like, weird feel to me when I was watching it back last night. And it's just crazy.

That's what I thought. The first thing I thought, too, was that's crazy how DeMar Hamlin was on the other end of that. But listen, I know I love the bash, too. And it's all in a football fan way.

I know he's a genuinely good person. And I just hope that, you know, think about all we've learned in the last 10 years about concussions, Zach. What's going to happen in 40 years? You know, I don't want to be turning on a TV in 40, 50 years.

And all of a sudden, Tua's in a chair and he can't move or something because he suffers another one of these. Let's just take your money, man. And you know what? Everyone should understand. If you don't understand that, then you're not human. Adam, appreciate the phone call.

Thanks so much. And, you know, I know Adam, right? He's called the show for years. He's a huge Bills fan. There's one thing when we get in the fun of this, of like, oh, you're a Bills fan. The Bills own the Dolphins. Bash Tua for the poor performances up against the Bills. But once you see with what happened in the past occur once again last night, I get it. Adam's a fired up Bills fan, right?

He's jacked up his team one. But then you think about the person and, you know, hey, I know this doing sports talk radio. We will go after people, right? You will criticize people. You will have opinions. You'll be loud. You'll be brash. It's what we do. But then when you see someone's health get impacted, it doesn't matter what you said in the past.

You're focused on that person's health. And last night watching it, it was a very, very scary scene because it wasn't even that bad of a hit. And all it does is makes the flashbacks occur from twenty twenty two. And when I watch that, you know, my immediate reaction last night was I don't want to see Tua play again. And I think he will.

I do. I think he will. But I don't want to see him play again because when I watch him, all I'm going to be thinking about are the four concussions that he suffered. Unfortunately, it is that Yelp show on the Infinity Sports Network with the unknown return of to a tongue of Iloa. And that's not knowing if we'll return or not. How did the Dolphins try to save this season? How did the Dolphins try to get a quarterback in there that is not on the roster? Is there one phone call that's already been made?

Could they have a potential reunion with an ex quarterback that used to play in Miami? We'll get into all of that on the other side. We'll approach from the football angle next. Eight five five two one two forty two twenty seven eight five five two one two forty two twenty seven. If you want to jump on in, do you want to see to a tongue of Iloa play football again after seeing him suffer another concussion last night on Thursday Night Football?

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Call 1-800-426-2537 for help. Paid for by Blitz Studios. You're listening to the Zach Gelb show. Talking Tua Tungavailoa, unfortunately, as he suffered a fourth NFL concussion last night. And obviously we're thinking about Tua today. And on a lot of people's minds is, well, was that the last time we saw Tua Tungavailoa on a football field? Personally, I hope so.

However, as I said, to open up the show, when you leave the decision in the hands of the player, nine point nine times out of ten, it does feel like the player elects to play moving forward. I don't know when Tua is going to return. But if you ask me if he will return one day to the NFL, even though I don't want to see it, I think he will. And that's our poll question today. After suffering another concussion, do you want to see Tua Tungavailoa ever play again in the NFL? Eighty five percent say no, he should retire.

Fifteen percent say yes. Let him play early returns on that poll question at Zach Gelb at INF Sports Net. We'll get back to the phones in just a second. Eight five five two one two forty two twenty seven eight five five two one two forty two twenty seven. Let's hear Deon Dawkins, obviously friend to show, college buddy of mine, star left tackle for the Buffalo Bills.

This is the opposition side. Obviously, we've heard a lot from the Miami Dolphins, a lot from Mike McDaniel. Here is Deon Dawkins after the game last night reacting to the unfortunate Tua Tungavailoa injury. It was the saddest thing.

I promise you, it was the saddest thing. We're all just watching him run and we're like, slide, bro, slide, bro, slide, bro, slide. And this game is so fast. It's a game of inches.

You know, if he would have just slid just a little inch before. It's such a sad thing. My prayers, my heart goes out to Tua, his family, his parents. And I hope that he's going to recover well, because this is a violent game and that shows it. And I know everybody in this locker room will and we'll be praying for him, you know, even though we're enemies, but we're family. You know, like we're all football players and we're in this brotherhood together and we all tip our hats to Tua. And we all will get on a knee and pray for Tua and his family. But this is sad. It's a sad deal and a real genuine and respectable answer from Deon Dawkins.

Even though they're not teammates, we understand the brotherhood of the NFL and Deon couldn't have said it any better. Definitely a sad day and been a last sad last 24 hours. And obviously, we're thinking about Tua, Tunga, Vailoa, unfortunately having to go through this once again. I want to play you two more audio clips because you'll have some people that will be like, oh, Gelb, you're soft. Oh, Gelb, you're you're overreacting to this today. And I already see some of the comments and, you know, I'm just giving you my opinion. I don't think there's a tough guy take or, you know, you're soft if you say he should retire.

I'm just giving you how I genuinely react to something when I'm watching it. So Antonio Pierce, former NFL player, now head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders. This is what he had to say on whether if Tua, Tunga, Vailoa should play or not again in the NFL. I'll be honest, I'll just tell them retire. It's not worth it.

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 see the sense of urgency from everybody to get to help. I just think at some point, you know, he's going to live long and he's on play football.

Take care of your family. And I think that's great advice. And Stu, I know Raiders players talk about the leadership that Antonio Pierce showed last year. But it's different when you're just showing leadership with non serious things. You know, last year it was OK. The Raiders got off to a terrible start. We know McDaniel's wasn't the guy. And then you show you got to see from the Raiders what leadership can do in a locker room. And how when you have a guy that can motivate someone and goes about things the right way on the football field, how it can uplift a locker room.

But that's totally different than when you have the football side of it. And I know Antonio Pierce isn't coaching the Dolphins, so maybe his answer is different. But for him to speak out on this today about another team's quarterback and him having a Super Bowl winning background as a player and now coaching in this league. I thought that was very respectable when Antonio Pierce did today because it shows you that things are bigger than football. And the way that he put it was perfectly like you're going to live longer than how long you're going to play. So basically be able to enjoy those years because if you keep on playing, we've never seen, you know, Antonio Pierce say so publicly. Like obviously we've seen players suffer concussions, but over and over again like this on the big stage and to see the way that his hands do the fencing mechanism as well.

It's scary. And it's actually refreshing to hear a coach actually care about the well-being of a player because there would be a lot of other coaches. Right. That'd be like, hey, I have a quarterback.

We need to get healthy and just thrown back on the field as soon as he gets cleared. And it's it's refreshing, even though it's different times now. And you kind of heard it last night in the broadcast. Right. Like Al Michaels, who is a legend. And we all know Al Michaels, right, has been around for a long, long time.

Like he was even potentially alluding to. Yeah, you probably won't see him next week. Like, I don't think you've seen Tua for a while, like the earliest I could potentially see after that bye week.

And that's in week seven. And that even seems a little bit too premature. So I commend your football coach to being honest and once again showing the type of leader he is. Yeah, absolutely. And you could tell you kind of alluded to it that this is just more than just a football decision, more than just anything to do with X's and O's and how good of a quarterback he is and all that. It's it's like it's this guy's livelihood and it's it's it sucks.

It's absolutely terrible. But yeah, I agree. Good words from Antonio Pierce there. Here is Manti Teo. Long time family friend of Tua Tungavailoa. He was on Good Morning Football. Manti Teo obviously got emotional while talking about his friend in Tua Tungavailoa. After he suffered the one against the Bengals, I wanted him to walk that that that when I saw him have to be carted off the field.

I wanted him to walk like that was. Yep. That was hard, bro. Like what people have to understand is this is just a game and then there's life.

And when you watch when you watch a young man that you've known since she was a little boy, I'll go out there. You know, yeah. Is it hard?

Is it hard for me? Yeah. But I can't imagine how it is for Uncle Nalu and Auntie Diane to watch their son again go down. And there you hear the emotional side from Manti who knows Tua's family and knows Tua very well. And you hear that. And sometimes, right, we get caught up on what bets do we win, you know, who wins fantasy football. And you forget about the person.

There's a human element. And you heard Manti say even when he suffered the concussion up against Cincinnati, he wanted him to walk then. And now, unfortunately, we have to live through this again after people thought we were in the clear after 2023. And it's just a reminder. Unfortunately, there's no avoiding really concussions in this sport.

There just isn't. And when you start to have a history, you start to see many of them start to think about the person. I think a lot of people, even though it's to his decision, are coming from a good place. They were it's like, dude, Tua, we love you. Like you made a lot of money. You're a competitor.

You're a warrior. It's just tough to keep on seeing this over and over again. You start to think about someone after football where a lot of times we forget about these great athletes once they're off a football field. They're not providing us that joy each and every Sunday. Or in this case, you know, we have games on Thursday and Mondays and, you know, all throughout the week now. Eight five five two one two forty forty two twenty seven. Let's go to Marston in Boise, Idaho. Next up on the Zach Gelb show. Marston, how are you? Good. How are you doing? Doing great.

What do you got? Yeah. So I.

Anyway, thanks for having me on the show. Anyway, earlier today I heard something about those weird looking helmets that go on top of the helmet. The garden caps. Yeah. Yeah. The Guardian cap.

Thank you. That's what I'm talking about. And I heard it's a rule now that the players can wear it. Right. And I know it looks kind of wonky or whatever, but why don't you start designing them with team logos on the side?

You know what I'm saying? Like, make it so that the players might want to wear it. Well, I don't know if putting a team logo is going to impact a player wearing it or not. Here's what I'll just say, though, Marston. I am not a doctor. I understand. I've all seen the Guardian caps like you.

And like most of us, we kind of poke fun when we see them because they do look weird. But the question is, how effective is it? And this is Chris Nowinski, who is the founding CEO of a concussion. He's a neuroscientist, author, speaker. And he's really well versed in this stuff.

He was on Maggie and Perloff earlier today in the mornings. And he said this quote, quote, a guardian cap is not going to fix this problem, especially the kind of hit he took. It could have been worse in theory with an extra pound or 14 ounce guardian cap.

So appreciate the phone call. It's a fair question. I don't know if it could have prevented what happened last night or not. I'm just giving you the neuroscientist background of it from someone that's a lot more intelligent.

I am. And Chris Nowinski, compared to you, just call me up and say, hey, why didn't you think he he wasn't wearing the guardian cap? Is there any way that he that they could have improved the situation?

I don't know the answer to that, regardless of what you do. And we've seen the NFL, even though sometimes it comes off as hypocritical. They've tried to make the game safer.

The the harsh reality. Is this a lethal game? And you could try to make everything as safe as possible and you could have something occur last night. And quite frankly, it could it could happen even worse than what occurred last night. And we've seen it happen before with the man that was tackling into Mar Hamlin. And it's crazy that he's even still back on a football field. And there's no way to prevent concussions. Try to make the game safer. This game isn't safe. Now, NFL is not going anywhere. I get that. But I don't know what else you could do. And I'm not going to, hey, second guess it off to where the guardian cap last night, maybe around here, because I didn't even think the hit was that bad.

And look what still happened. Zach, I'll be with you on the Infinity Sports Network. I'll get to two quarterbacks that could be on the Dolphins radar with us not knowing when Tua is going to return, if he does at all. Coming up later, the two quarterbacks that have been talked about the most, Tom Brady and Ryan Tannehill will dissect those options coming up in a bit. Also, we'll tap into the Dolphins when we return. Armando Salguro does a great job. I'll kick the coverage. Senior NFL writer. He'll join us on the other side. Update time first.

Here is El Capitan Marco Bellini. You're listening to the Zach Gelb show. It's time to ask the pros.

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Get guaranteed low prices and excellent customer service from the professional parts people at O'Reilly Auto Parts. Armando Salguro does a great job covering the NFL for Al Kick. And he's done so for a long time and he's kind enough to join us right now as we talk about Tua Tunga-Viloa. Unfortunately, suffering another concussion in the Bills victory last night up against the Miami Dolphins. Armando, appreciate the time as always.

Thanks so much for it. And how are you? I'm doing great, Zach. Every time someone says he's covered the NFL for a long time, that is code for this is the old guy coming on the show.

The well-respected veteran writer is how I would refer to you, Armando. So, you know, you've seen the NFL change a lot throughout the years. We know how big of a topic of conversation players safety and concussions have been with Tua. With Tua, it's different with quarterbacks than any other quarterbacks in the league with all the concussions that we've seen him suffer, unfortunately, in 2022.

I know he got through last year, but to see what happened last night, just how did you process that one, unfortunately? Yeah. Dude, when you see both teams gather around the player and kneel and start to pray, there's a reason for that. They're aware of the history. They're aware of the seriousness.

They obviously are seeing it right up in their face and up close. It's never good when you see a player go into the, you know, kind of the planking concussion motion type of thing. And when it's a player who has had, like Tua has had, two previous documented concussions, possibly three because he got knocked out of a game against the Bills by Matt Milano and it wasn't even, you know.

They said it was a back, which no one believes, right? Correct. So this would be either his third or his fourth since 2022. And we're at the point where the last one cost him the end of the 22 season and the playoffs. This one is already going to cost him at least the next game for the Dolphins and probably almost definitely more games than that, if not a career decision on his part.

Yeah. And I watch what we saw last night and it brings you back to all those times. Unfortunately, we saw Tua suffer concussions in 2022 and you've done this long enough.

I've done this as well. You know, if you leave it in the hands of the player, 99.9% of the time, they're going to keep on playing and we'll see if Tua does that. But personally, I hope that he just goes home and he retires and we don't see him again because man, it was scary what we had to see once again last night. And you think about the player. Right. So you share the opinion of Raiders coach Antonio Pierce, who today at his press conference said Tua needs to retire. Interestingly, Mike McDaniel, the Dolphins coach, is saying, I'm not going to give an opinion on this because anything that I say is going to be pressure on Tua to go one way or the other. And I don't need him feeling that particularly right now when he's trying to get over symptoms.

So that's kind of the far away from the moment type of opinion and the in the moment type of opinion, obviously. The Tua family will be involved. They were involved in his decision to continue to play the last time. His mother told him to retire and he still decided to continue to play. I would say to you, there's a different dynamic at play now. The last time he was on his rookie contract, he just signed a huge contract that basically sets his family up for life.

It's generational wealth. And so, you know, if he were of the mind to, you know, stop playing, he's going to be fine, at least financially. And ultimately, that's a decision that's up to him. But it's a big decision when you've got a newborn and a wife that he married a year and a half ago.

Armando Salguero here with us. So I did not know that his mother last time wanted him to retire. I always thought he was going to return when the twenty twenty two season happened. Was he actually like really close to maybe listening to mom and and and and actually retired, ended the career after the twenty twenty two season? Yeah, he he has talked openly about the idea of it was a family discussion. And I listened to all sides and he waited out. And then obviously it's his decision.

Right. And so he made the decision to come back and continue playing with the caveat that he was going to do some things to avoid the very thing that happened last night. You know, he took jujitsu lessons so that he would learn how to fall. He gained weight this year.

He lost weight. It's been an ongoing process for him to try to figure out what is the best way to position himself to where last night doesn't happen. And yet here we are a day later and in the same spot. And it was an ominous feel last night, especially on, you know, with the more Hamlin being involved in the play.

And we know his history as well. But it just once again shows you you could try to protect players, right. Change the rules of the game right to it could do all these things off the field. Like that wasn't even a bad hit last night. Like that was the scary part to me is we saw the fencing mechanism position pop back up once again with two in his hands. And it wasn't even that bad of a hit.

So I don't even know where he goes from here, to be honest with you, Armando. Yeah, the Damar Hamlin, who obviously we've seen in a terrible situation on the field a couple of years ago as well. It really hit the point of contact for Damar Hamlin was his arm. That's what hit to his helmet.

And of course, you see what happens in the aftermath. And there are people that are saying, well, he should have slid. Let's be honest, in the heat of the moment, in the heat of the quote unquote battle, some guys are just not going to do that. And some guys are not of the mind to do that. And obviously Tua was not either in position or of the mind. And you know this, too, if he did slide and let's say he didn't get the first down, people would have been crushing him for sliding too early. You know, so it's you can't win in that situation.

Yeah. You know, it's funny that the reaction from the Dolphins has been it's not about wins and losses. It's not about how this affects our season. It's not about can we salvage what we saw last night. It's about we hope Tua is well and gets well.

And, you know, I guess that's that's that's something that you applaud. But there will come a moment when fans who you mentioned can be somewhat vicious at times because it is football. They will say, yeah, but what about winning some games and who are you going to bring in next? And when you get to that conversation right, right away, when I watch it last night and you see the aftermath of you think, OK, where can the Dolphins go? We know Stephen Ross history with Tom Brady. We know Ryan Tannehill's history with the organization. If they go outside the organization, Tannehill, probably the most likely they're like, I don't think Brady's coming back. I don't think we are. I don't think the the talk were there be a talk with Brady would be very convincing to Tom Brady.

It would be something like, Tom, we've tampered with you twice already. We got destroyed for doing so by the NFL. But having said that, would you quit your three hundred and seventy five million dollar job, at least temporarily? And punt on NFL potential ownership, too.

Right. You know, and and put off your owner, your minority ownership of the Raiders and come and play behind an offensive line that's not very good. And on a team that even players last night were admitting the bills are in our head.

So not mentally tough. But can you do that for us, Tom? I don't know that that would be all that convincing for Tom Brady. How about Tannehill? He needs a job. Yeah, he does.

And I guess it's it's it's a possibility. I don't see him as much of a system fit, to be very frank with you. That is a quick read.

Be very accurate pinpoint pass type of system. And Ryan is not exactly that. And much less at thirty six or thirty seven years old, whatever he is. There is a quarterback in the NFL right now that if the Dolphins were of the mind to salvage the season, they could try and trade for him. And he's played in the McDaniel slash Shanahan system and he went to the Super Bowl in that system with McDaniel and Shanahan. And he's not a great answer.

There are no great answers at this point, but his name is Jimmy Garoppolo. And you know what? I have not thought of that yet. That would make a lot of sense. That's why you're the veteran NFL writer, Armando Salguro. You give us takes that most people don't even see coming. Yeah, I pulled that one out of some nether region. I don't know where.

But again, I don't see that as the you know, the prime directive. I don't see that as the number one option on the table. First of all, I don't even know that the Rams would make Jimmy Garoppolo available. He's just come off of suspension. He is Armando Salguro. Does a great job covering the NFL for outkick Armando. Thanks so much for giving us a few minutes today. We appreciate it. Pleasure, Zach. There he is. Armando Salguro joining us in the Zach Gelb show on the Infinity Sports Network.

And he's right. You know, the Dolphins are going to give to a time. They don't want to put pressure on him either way. But with what we do eventually and right, the fan take, they want to know who's going to be playing a quarterback.

And Skyler, we've already seen enough of him. He's not going to have you win with the roster that we thought, you know, could be ready to take that next step this year. You know, the Dolphins just missed the playoffs, but I think they'd be a bad team.

I thought they'd be nine and eight, 10 and seven and just miss out because how good the AFC is. But I don't think Brady's coming back. Tana Hill, he says, is not a fit. He's available, though.

And that's a big thing. Like he is a free agent right now. And you look at Jimmy G, he knows McDaniel very well. But can you find a way to get a deal done between the Rams and Garoppolo coming off a suspension right now? You know, the you know, after this week, I think it's a two week suspension.

And then, you know, you get that deal done and then, you know, at least there's some familiarity with the Mike McDaniel offense. So that was an interesting one. All right. We'll take a time out. Zach Gelb show Infinity Sports Network. There's another conversation we need to get into it to a tongue of eye law. We'll do that next.