He is still owed the guaranteed money

 

Id retire today! Zero reason to continue playing. Once you have concussions you are more prone to have them from what I have read. His mother already asked him to retire before siting issue, and now im 100% sure she will tell him again to retire. Hes a young man and has the rest of his life to live if he continues he could die, or at beast have a server handicap or mental issues in his future.

100 Million and what he has already is a nice life for a young man!

 

The NFL should force him to retire and let Miami off the hook but they won't.

 

If he's forced to retire Miami will be on the hook for about $160-$180m...somewhere in there.

 

Not true. If he retires on his own we don't pay. If he's FORCED to retire, we pay.

 

Only if he's forced to retire.

There's over $100m reasons for him to keep playing.

 

I truthfully don't care how it affects our salary cap. If the man decides to retire for the best interests of his young family, then the Dolphins need to pay the man in full for his contract, at the very least he should get his guaranteed $167 mil, if not the full contract amount. You cannot ask a man to give more than he has given this team on the field.

My heart goes out to him, the man doesn't have an ounce of quit in his body.

I wish him nothing but the best of luck in his recovery. I hope that as a competitor he can relegate that inner voice to background noise, and listen to the voices that matter most, his doctors and the mother of his children in the coming days as he makes a very hard decision. He's a great person, and it would be a shame to see that person irreversibly damaged out of a need to compete, or loyalty to his team.

 

PLAYING DEVIL'S ADVOCATE...

If Tua retires (voluntarily or forced), the next person out of the door needs to be Chris Grier. He HAS to be!

Grier has been the architect of this team and the teams for the last 8 years. No division titles, 0-3 in the playoffs...at some point, regardless of the talent assembled, regardless of the teams' records, regardless of injuries...at some point, accountability needs to be held.

But then the question ultimately becomes, who would Ross hire as his replacement? And I don't trust him to hire a competent GM.

 

He has the talent and skill to be a great QB, but it doesn't appear that he has the body. I hope he is cleared to come back and there is a fair injury negotiation to let him retire while not crippling the team.

 

Listening to it right now, I was interested in his take after the dilemma from yesterday.

 

A medical doc would need to force that, I believe.

 

If he does the Dolphins won’t owe him any money.

 

Owe him legally, no. But should they still pay him? Absolutely yes.

 

If Tua is forced to retire, which he may, the franchise is in huge trouble. Not only would they not have a QB, but the salary cap would be destroyed for several years to come. I imagine we'll limp through the rest of this year, then guys like Armstead, Mostert, Campbell, and others will retire, and then they'd explore trying to trade Tyreek and Ramsey for what they could get back.

And then maybe, if we're lucky, they could build a team that's ready to try and be competitive again before Waddle and Achane are over the hill. But if Tua is done (and I don't hold it against him if he is) then 2025 is also going to be a lost year, and 2026 is going to have an almost entirely different team from what we had on the field last night.

 

The team should have to pay him IMO but if doctors make him retire it shouldn't count against the cap. I also think being the person Tua is he would be more inclined to retire if he knew it wasn't going to hurt the franchise or his team mates.

 

That is 100% spot on. Now it's up to the NFL leadership, meaning the team owners and the commissioner, to do the right thing and show that they care more about the players then the $.

 

I think that they should have to pay but it really shouldn't affect the cap.

 

Aren’t these monster contracts usually insured ?

I know in hockey/NHL when guys retire due to physical condition/injuries/trauma ect with multiple years remaining on contract…. The player gets the full amount. But the team only has to pay a percentage (Usually around 20%).

Either way I’m sure Tua is more concerned with having a healthy brain than a few extra zeroes on the bank account. So hopefully he comes out of this alright.

 

I saw earlier that the Fins are insured for about 25% of it. And that Tua's contract was written such that if he's forced to retire (not on his own terms) he gets to keep all of the guaranteed money.

 

I disagree. If I’m injured and can’t work, my company wouldn’t be expected to pay me my salary for years down the road.

My guess is most, if not all, NFL players have their own insurance that protects them from these things. I know a lot of college players do. If they get hurt in college, and can’t go to the NFL, they get the insurance money.

 

Okay, I’m going to sound like the cold hearted b@stard here…and I like Tua, but from a business point of view…if Tua were to retire, forced or voluntarily Tua should be paid…

His signing bonus. That’s free money up front the team used to get him to sign the contract

Two games salary based on his 2024 contract.

You can’t pay a man a salary for work he didn’t do. That’s just not logical

 

I’m assuming that you meant should “NOT” be paid? If so, I agree.

 

No, I meant that is all he should be paid.

The team used the upfront signing bonus to get him to sign the contract. He signed the contract. Pay the signing bonus.

His salary for the 2024 season is $9.5 million divided by 17 games, he’s played 2 games, pay him $1.16 million.

 

His contract had a guaranteed amount in it. They should pay him what was guaranteed*, but not have to pay the part that was not guaranteed.

*If there were stipulations on the guarantee then that's a different conversation.

 

If he retires he would be walking away from 124 million. Think about that. I don't think he retires voluntarily.

 

Oh I know, I was giving my opinion on what I believe he should be paid, that’s all.

 

If Tua can't play based on an injury he sustained while playing, he should (and will) get paid his full guarantee and it should definitely count against the salary cap. That's the deal that was made.

 

Look at this. Some common sense.

 

Two weeks ago you're the dudes biggest fan, and calling me a troll for being honest about the man's arm strength, and now you are trying to justify reasons for the Dolphins to get out of paying him. I would say what this shows about you as a person and a fan, but prefer to keep it dignified in a post regarding the lasting impact this will have on a young father's life and family.

What I will.say is this. The Dolphins were negligent in allowing him to comeback into a game in 2022 which may have exacerbated his condition and led.to longer lasting health issues that most likely impacted rhe serious of future head trauma due to his not having proper time to recover. Yes, the owe him the money, and any lawyer worth their salt could make the case for it with a line of specialists who would testify the team doctor did not act in Tua's best interests.

Sad to see your Tua love stops at the dollar sign and what use he is to the team.

 

Your entire post is just nonsense.

I love Tua. And he has a contract that if he is injured and is not cleared to play again he gets around $160m. But, if he is cleared and retires he forfeits that money. You can cry about that contract, but it’s not realistic for any team or company to pay someone for years if they don’t work. That’s just not the real world.

You can create strawmans and claim I’m a big meanie poopyhead, but tough sh!t. This isn’t fairytale land.

 

And if he gets cleared, but decides to retire (per his contract) he forfeits any money left on the contract.

 

I mean, if he WANTS to play, really wants it and wants to come back, he will come back, he will get cleared. And this is a kid whose life has centered around this sport, this goal. He will feel all kinds of emotions at the prospect of walking away and charting a new path through the unknown. I'm sure that he could find a broadcasting gig, or start down the path of coaching, hell, maybe even form a flag football team to try out for the 28 Olympics, but it's not really the same. It will take his family essentially saying "no, we need you here" to step away.

That likely means voluntary retirement. We have outs starting next year - it won't be cheap but it won't destroy us. Replacing him would be the actual challenge. Unless there is a Mayfield type guy you can grab, your looking at a rookie. And while we won't be good without Tua, we won't be on the level of the Giants, Panthers, etc. Not sure how good of a shot at the elite rookies we will have.

So the question then becomes, does Ross trust Grier and McDaniel with a rebuild? Just McDaniel but not Grier? Neither? Who knows. From a personal standpoint though, I struggle to see how you can keep rolling with Tua. Two major concussions with fencing posture is brutal. I'm not going to assume to know the effect on Tua, but just seeing the same player go through the same massive injury a second time is hard to watch. I don't really want to watch it a third time, and if he returns, there almost has to be a third time. I don't know if you can trust him to stay on the field. I can't and won't tell him what to do, but as a fan I am kind of done.

 

I think the team leadership is going to be forced into a reckoning. By all accounts, the injury issue made this contract a tough one to get done, and then it immediately rears its head in the worst way possible. When he is cleared and if he decided he wants to play ... do we want to assume the risk of having a QB with spotty availability that's a ticking time bomb?

 

I don’t think he’s injury prone, per se, some of the leading neurologists in the world believes that or he wouldn’t still be playing. My concern is his complete lack of awareness and seemingly inability to protect himself. What he did last night was very foolish. Saying that, a blow to the head like that would have concussed most any person. It was a very awkward and violent hit that twisted his head, neck, brain stem, etc.

 

There are so many players in this league that have had many more concussions. The fencing posture is a very common thing to see in a concussion victim and has no bearing on the severity of the concussion. It is a good way to determine a concussion happened, but it doesn’t mean anything as far as the severity of the concussion.

 

You're out of touch with reality. If it is proven that a team official, which the team doctor would be considered to be, is grossly negligent in regards to safety concerns then yes they could very well lose a civil suit in with damages including and exceeding lost income. That is not fairy tale land, that is real world s**t.

You don't love the man, you love what he did for the team, and once that's done you obviously dgaf or you would think the Dolphins should do the right thing and tell him up front that he will get paid whether or not he himself chooses to retire or the team and league decide he is unable to be cleared for his own safety.