Dave Hyde: Concern for Tua Tagovailoa? Or loud over-reaction to latest concussion?

Let’s see. There’s the Cleveland Browns three-time Pro Bowl cornerback Denzel Ward. He suffered the fifth concussion of his seven-year NFL career in August.

No NFL coach ever said of him, as the Las Vegas Raiders’ Antonio Pierce did after Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa’s third concussion last Thursday, “I’ll be honest, I’d tell him to retire.” Does Pierce even know his start receiver, Davante Adams, suffered three concussions early in his career?

Jacksonville center Mitch Morse has suffered what appears to be a league-high six concussions in his NFL career and admits, “It’s part of my story.”

But former NFL players never lined up to say Morse should retire, as happened after Tagovailoa’s latest concussion against the Buffalo Bills.

“NFL, go ahead and do that right thing,’’ former Dallas receiver Dez Bryant wrote on Twitter. “Tua has had entirely way too many concussions. He needs to retire for his longevity (sic) health concerns.”

Tagovailoa has let it be known as he deals with the concussion that he isn’t retiring, even as his health remains a primary concern for his future. Beyond being a practical concern for the Dolphins from a football standpoint, there’s a health concern for him and a moral one for the organization.

But where’s the line to sound the alarm of retirement? Does anyone know? Is it three diagnosed concussions in the NFL, like Tagovailoa has? Six like Morse? Eight like Dallas Cowboys quarterback Troy Aikman admits he might have had in another era?

Who decides where that line should be drawn, too? Tagovailoa with his doctors and family? Or is it anyone with a microphone placed before them?

Because no one in the medical community or concussion-treatment ecosystem is saying Tagovailoa’s career should pack up and retire.

“It’s an interesting question: Why is the conversation for Tua to retire so much louder than it has been for anybody else?’’ said Chris Nowinski, the CEO of the Concussion Legacy Foundation and co-founder of Boston University’s CTE Center that has researched sports and concussions

Nowinski questioned the Dolphins handling of Tagovailoa in that five-day window between the quarterback’s first and second concussions in 2022. But he’s not pushing for retirement here.

“If concussions are managed properly, it doesn’t mean you should retire,’’ Nowinski said.

He raised a striking question, though: Why is this conversation regarding Tagovailoa so loud? Maybe because any conversation around him has been loud since his college days. Maybe because his concussions were accompanied by dramatic video, too.

He collapsed on the field, like the air went out of his legs, while trying to walk after the first one in 2022. He needed to be taken off the field on a stretcher after the second one later that week, when his hands were frozen in the fencing position of some head trauma victims, too. Just like they were again after his third one on Thursday.

“If everyone had video like that to their concussions, people [would] react more, too,” Nowinski said.

But retire? That’s not necessarily the line to cross just yet. Patrice Bergeron, the former Boston Bruins star, received an award from Nowinski’s foundation last year for his work with concussions. Bergeron missed most of the 2006-07 season with a concussion. He returned the next season and didn’t retire until 15 years later after the 2022 season. He had other concussions, too.

“You need to take the time and heal,’’ Bergeron said in his speech that night. “We’ve seen what can happen if guys try to play through it, with depression and all. You need to be careful.”

Tagovailoa should be triple-careful after this third concussion. His journey is a rare one. Only one other starting NFL quarterback this past weekend has three concussions in his career. That’s the New York Jets’ Aaron Rodgers, who is playing his 20th season.

Rodgers is in no ways fragile, too, as his NFL injury reports show over his career: Fractured foot, two broken clavicles, torn calf muscle, two calf strains, knee sprain, broken toe, broken thumb, bruised ribs, torn Achilles tendon — and two concussions suffered in 2010 and the third in 2018.

New Orleans’ Derek Carr is the only other starting quarterback to have multiple concussions as a pro, according to NFL injury reports. He has two. Carr is in his 11th year of a career that bridges old and new rules on the safety of quarterbacks.

The difference in eras can be stark. Name a city. Take Seattle, where the Dolphins play next. Dolphins quarterback Dan Marino was concussed there as a rookie to the point he doesn’t remember part of the game and concussed again in Seattle in his final playoff win to the point he doesn’t remember the winning, last-minute drive.

What if the Dolphins had to publicize Marino’s concussions like today’s era? Would the reaction be different?

No one knows what Tagovailoa remembers about Thursday night. No one knows what the medical tests have shown or what the doctors are saying about when he can play again. Next month? Next season?

The only thing you know is a former player or NFL coach wanting to offer advice shouldn’t talk of retiring. They should says, as Bergeron warned to anyone with a concussion, “You’ve got to be careful.”