Dolphins coaches, teammates and fans urge Tua Tagovailoa to slide

Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa has returned from the concussion that has sidelined him since Week Two and will start Sunday against the Cardinals. And you are urged to take extra precautions to stay available.

Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel says it’s become clear to Tagovailoa that the franchise needs him to slide, get out of bounds, throw the ball and avoid the kind of contact that could lead to another concussion.

“I think you have a better understanding of your responsibility towards the entire organization at this point,” McDaniel said, via Palm Beach Mail. “My response would be, ‘You don’t need that one this time.'”

Dolphins running back Raheem Mostert said his teammates are urging Tagovailoa to take care of himself.

“We have been talking to him since his injury. I’ve been telling him, ‘Hey, you need to work on the slide,’” Mostert said. “And we all joke and laugh, but seriously, he knows he has to protect himself a little better and move on, only he can control those things. . . . We can tell him those things until we’re blue in the face, but one thing I would say and always say is, ‘Hey, you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink, right?’ ?’ We’re going to take Tua to that water, but we can’t force him to drink. “He understands that and in the future he will do his best.”

Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill wants fans to get involved.

“When we were playing the Colts, you see the fans start cheering for Anthony Richardson when he slipped,” Hill said this week. “I said our fans should applaud Tua, make him slide.”

No NFL player can completely avoid contact, but there may be no player in the entire league who has coaches, teammates and fans as interested in seeing him stay healthy as Tagovailoa.