MIAMI – Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa will miss Thursday night’s game against the Buffalo Bills due to a concussion.

Late in the third quarter, Tagovailoa ran up the middle for a first down and lowered his shoulder to make contact with Bills safety Damar Hamlin. Tagovailoa’s helmet hit Hamlin’s body hard, and the quarterback immediately responded with a fencing reaction, keeping his arms in an unnatural position.

The Dolphins’ medical trainers tended to him for several minutes while the players knelt around him. Eventually, he was able to leave the field under his own power and walk to the team’s locker room.

Tagovailoa was immediately suspended for the game. It is the third diagnosed concussion of his NFL career.

Tagovailoa attracted a lot of attention in 2022 when he hit the back of his head on the ground in a game against the Bills. On his way back to the Dolphins’ lineup, he stumbled and briefly left the game before returning from a reported back injury.

The NFL and NFLPA launched a joint investigation into the handling of Tagovailoa, which resulted in the NFLPA exercising its right to fire the independent neurological consultant who had cleared Tagovailoa to return to play. The NFL also changed its concussion policy by adding an ataxia clause – which allows a spotter to remove players from the game if they exhibit certain symptoms of a concussion.

Four days later, Tagovailoa hit the back of his head on the ground in a similar manner during a game against the Cincinnati Bengals and was briefly unconscious. He was taken to a local hospital and diagnosed with a concussion. Afterward, coach Mike McDaniel and the Dolphins were heavily criticized for letting him play.

Tagovailoa missed two games before returning to the field, but suffered another concussion during a Dec. 25 game against the Green Bay Packers. This time, the Dolphins sidelined him for the rest of the season.

Tagovailoa said he briefly considered retiring after the 2022 season after talking with his family. In an interview with “The Dan Le Batard Show,” he clarified that his mother asked him to consider retiring. He decided against it and spent the offseason building muscle and training jiu-jitsu to learn how to fall without hitting his head on the ground.

The training paid off; he played all 17 regular-season games in 2023 and the Dolphins’ playoff loss to the Kansas City Chiefs. In the offseason, he signed a four-year, $212.1 million contract extension, making him the highest-paid player in franchise history.

Third-year quarterback Skylar Thompson came in for Tagovailoa when Miami trailed 31-10.