As a person who has dealt with severe concussions and lost 8 months of memory from the last one I had the topic has always been more personal than I would like to admit. While I keep up with football and will watch it on occasion now for the first few years I personally could not stomach watching people slam their heads together. When Tua had the nightmare scenario play out in 2022 I thought for sure he was going to retire then. He had already bounced back from the hip dislocation and fracture he suffered his final year at Alabama showing to everyone, himself included, that he was a great quarterback and was able to play at the elite level.
Tua even has come out and talked about since then how his mom asked him to consider retirement because of the long-term side effects from concussions like this. Even though he ended up continuing his career he did make some significant changes in particular bulking up and training in jiujitsu breakfall so he knew how to help protect himself better. It seemed to work as 2023 went about as great as he could have hoped throwing for over 4,600 yards and 29 TDs leading a very good Miami team.
Yesterday though... that all ended and once again we need/have to look at is this really worth it.
While the hit itself was a hard hit and likely would have concussed a ton of players the way his brain reacted goes to show you the long lasting issues that can plague people with head injuries. A fencing response like we witnessed is such a strong sign of things that can follow him forever if he keeps doing this. He has made generational wealth with $167 million of his contract guaranteed. Even if he ends up surrendering part of it due to some injury clause it would be best for him and his family to just hang them up now.