Tua Tagovailoa rumors: Is the former Crimson Tide star retiring from the NFL?

Football fans held their breath on Thursday night after Miami Dolphins quarterback Tau Tagovailoa dove headfirst into a Bills defender Damar Hamlin and hit the back of his head on the ground. After the play, the former Alabama quarterback didn't get up and not just Miami fans, but football fans in general had flashbacks to the three other times Tagovialoa hit his head hard on the ground and went out with a concussion.

After laying on the ground for a couple of minutes with the medical staff and teammates around him, Tagovailoa was able to get to his feet under his own power and walked to the sideline and then to the locker room. Just a few minutes later it was announced that the Dolphins' quarterback was ruled out with his fourth concussion in his career and would not return to the game.

Ever since the injury, the media has not talked about when Tagovailoa will return to play, or what the Dolphins will do at the quarterback position, but the conversation has centered on whether or not he should decide to medically retire from football.

To be very clear, Tua Tagovialoa has not made any announcements on whether or not he is choosing to medically retire from football.

There is a lot of speculation going on about what Tagovailoa should do, whether to continue to play, or prioritize his health and medically retire.

However, there are a lot of rumors going around in the media about how Tagovailoa has already made his decision to retire, even after signing a monster contract in the offseason that for a time made him one of the highest-paid quarterbacks in the NFL.

The media is making it sound like the former Alabama quarterback has made his decision, but if you listen to any close to Tagovailoa such as any of his friends or anyone in the Dolphins organization, no decision has been made and he is simply focusing on getting better.

How much money would the Miami Dolphins owe Tua Tagovailoa is he medically retired?

Back in July, the Dolphina and Tagovailoa agreed on a four-year $212.4 million contract extension with $161.7 million guaranteed. However, if Tua were to be forced to medically retire if he can't pass concussion protocol, the Dolphins would still owe him $124 million on top of the $43 million he has already collected.

If Tagovailoa were to be cleared from concussion protocol for the third time in his NFL career and still chose to retire for his own health, the Dolphins would not be entitled to owe him any of that money and he would forfeit the money. That is not to say that he and the organization couldn't come to an agreement where he gets part of that money.

All-in-all, the biggest thing that matters is that Tagovailoa focuses on his health at this time. Everything else will figure itself out in time, but at this moment, he has not retired, and no decision is set to be made at this time.