Dolphins QB Tua Tagovailoa is nursing hip and thumb injury
The NFL’s most fragile starting quarterback surfaced on the injury report for the first time in 2025. on Wednesday.
Tua Tagovailoa, who played his best game of the season in Sunday’s 27-24 fourth-quarter loss to the Carolina Panthers, seemingly suffered a hip injury, and injured the thumb on his throwing hand during last week’s game.
The left thumb injury is problematic considering Tagovailoa, who has a 100.1 passer rating heading into Sunday’s home game against the Los Angeles Chargers (3-2), is a left handed quarterback.
But the seriousness of the hip injury could potentially sideline him a couple of days, or weeks if the issue gets worse, like it did last season when Tagovailoa missed the final two games of 2024 because of an injury he initially suffered in Miami’s 20-12 loss to the Houston Texans, and then struggled to play through the following week in a win over the San Francisco 49ers.
The hip injury began to impact Tagovailoa’s throwing and mobility and the Dolphins decision makers deemed it was too risky to put him on the field against the Cleveland Browns and the New York Jets to close out the season.
Keep in mind Tagovailoa’s hip was surgically repaired in 2019 after he suffered a season-ending injury in his final season at the University of Alabama. Back then NFL teams had Tagovailoa off their draft board because they felt the hip injury would eventually shorten his NFL career.
But Tagovailoa, who owns a 39-28 record as a starter, has served as Miami’s starting quarterback for the majority of six seasons, and is on pace to become the third quarterback in NFL history to produce four straight seasons with a passer rating of 100 or more, joining Aaron Rodgers and Steve Young.
This season Tagovailoa, who got off to a rough start courtesy of a three turnover performance in Miami’s 33-8 loss to the Indianapolis Colts, is completing 70.7 percent of his passes, throwing for 1,008 yards with 10 touchdowns and four interceptions.
If either one of Tagovailoa’s injuries worsens, and prevents him from competing in Sunday’s game expect, Zach Wilson to serve as his replacement.
Wilson, a former 2021 first-round pick, was signed this offseason to a one-year $6 million deal to serve as Tagovailoa’s backup, and seemingly edged out rookie quarterback Quinn Ewers for that spot. Wilson, who has started 33 NFL games and owns a 12-21 record in those starts, played in a mop-up role against the Colts, completing 5-of-8 passes, throwing for 32 yards this season.
He owns a 73.2 career passer rating.
Tight end Darren Waller also missed Wednesday practice, but that was designated as a rest day for the 33-year-old tight end, who is beginning his third week of practice with the team.
Center Aaron Brewer was limited because of a pectoral injury he’s nursing, and offensive tackle Larry Borom, who is serving as Miami’s starting right tackle while Austin Jackson’s left foot injury recovers, was limited because of a thumb injury.
Safety Elijah Campbell suffered a quadriceps injury during Wednesday’s practice.
This story was originally published October 8, 2025 at 7:16 PM.
