Pederson’s mindset is to ‘do the right thing for the player
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Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa’s third concussion in his NFL career cast a shadow over the football community Thursday night. Two former NFL players turned head coaches have shared their perspectives on the 26-year-old’s situation.
Las Vegas Raiders head coach Antonio Pierce, a veteran linebacker with a tough reputation from his time with Washington and the New York Giants, advised Tagovailoa to consider retiring for the sake of his long-term well-being. “He’s going to live longer than he’s going to play football,” Pierce stated. “Take care of your family.”
Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Doug Pederson, who spent seven seasons in the league, stressed the importance of ensuring a player is “1,000% healthy” in such circumstances. He emphasized the need to prioritize the player’s health over the game. “If it happened to one of our guys, you have to be very careful and do the right thing for the player,” Pederson noted. “We’re trying to remove these kinds of injuries from the game, but the nature of the hits makes it challenging. Ultimately, you have to think about the player’s well-being and career. The love for the game can make it hard to face the reality of such situations.”
“If it happened to one of our guys, you have to be very careful and do the right thing for the player,” Pederson said, via The Florida Times-Union, on Friday. “I think that’s the most important thing. It’s part of the game that obviously we’re trying to remove, and obviously I don’t know if you can fully remove it because of the nature of these hits. But, I think you just have to think about the player, the health and safety of the player and making sure they’re 100, 1,000% healthy. Those are just decisions I think personally as a player you have to consider as you think about your career. Think about wanting to play. That’s the thing about it. Everybody wants to play. They love this game so much, and they give so much to it that, when things like this happen… reality kind of hits a little bit. It just shows the human nature, the human side of our sport.”