Tua Tagovailoa’s surgeon: QB is “not susceptible to injury”

[The Dolphin]

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NFL teams who might be curious about the condition of Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa can’t examine him themselves.

But they have sent one of their own in to look at him.

In a deep look at the most-talked-about hip in the 2020 NFL Draft, Steve Wyche of NFL Network reported that Titans team physician Dr. Thomas Byrd re-examined Tagovailoa on April 2, after doctors from other teams chose him to take a look.

Since Tagovailoa was working out in Nashville, it was expedient from that standpoint, but Byrd’s a respected hip surgeon in his own right.

That report was largely positive, though the unknown still shrouds a player who many thought would have been the first overall pick a year ago.

The dislocated and fractured hip from last November has been at the center of those doubts, but the surgeon who did the work is confident it won’t be a problem moving forward.

“No, he is not susceptible to injury,” said Houston surgeon Dr. Chip Routt, who performed the surgery. “We have a nice repair that should lower the chances of arthritic damage as he gets to be an old man. His injury had a pattern that allowed us to put the pieces back where they came from. . . .

“What he had was serious, but we got it worked out.”

Routt said the injuries sustained in that game against Mississippi State were consistent with someone who had been in the front seat of a major car wreck, as if his knee hit the dashboard and sent the impact back into the hip. But he’s also been impressed by the way Tagovailoa approached the rehab set him apart from most.

“Things have really worked out,” Routt said. “Most people could achieve what he has if they have the discipline he has. He has a lot of motivation to recover well. He’s ahead of schedule a little bit. He’s done an extraordinary amount of rehab. He was respectful of our rehab and protection instructions. He stayed within the parameters of what we outlined for him.

“He’s been studied and examined more and with more X-rays and [MRIs] than any patient I’ve dealt with.”

And still, it’s probably not enough to make his future clear.