Tua Tagovailoa concussion prevention: How Tua strengthened his neck

MIAMI GARDENS — Tua Tagovailoa has focused his offseason on limiting future concussions.

One step the Dolphins quarterback has taken is to strengthen the muscles in and around his neck.

Tua's neck was visibly larger and stronger in a recent visit with local reporters.

"We have like this neck device that we use, where you clip it onto like one of the pulleys," Tua explained. "So, I’m able to do a four-way directional head deal."

Tua will have access to a brand-new NFL-endorsed concussion prevention helmet.

Tua has been studying how to fall in training with a jiujitsu professional.

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There, he's learned how to, for example, tuck his chin at the right moment.

Tua wants to know how to best disperse the energy of body blows with ideal posture.

And in training, he's also had a therapist helping him build up his neck.

"You have manuals, where someone is resisting or trying to hold your head down," Tua said. "And then, within the four ways, going side to side, and then back and forth, you have manuals. That’s really what we’ve been doing to help build that up.”

Before last season, Tua worked on building back strength in his arm and his core and his legs, after being unable to train the way he likes to following a serious hip injury.

Tua Tagovailoa wants to limit future concussions

This offseason has been all about learning how to best survive the hits.

"Obviously, strength work has been really big throughout this offseason for me with getting my legs under me, kind of building my upper body, building around my neck, my core," Tagovailoa said. "All of that has been taken into consideration. And I’ve been doing a lot more to try to help myself sustain the season.”

Tua has also studied closely the shots he took last season, which left him with at least two concussions.

"It wasn’t tough to watch," he said. "I want to get better at everything that I can do to help the team win games and I know the biggest one is my health, staying out on the field. And so looking at the film, I was able to watch that with my jiujitsu coach, and we were able to kind of relive the scenario in how I got tackled, how I fell. And it wasn’t just one particular game. It was multiple ways that I got taken down and how I could have prevented that.”

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Miami coach Mike McDaniel has been impressed by how Tua has attacked this assignment.

"This is something that our training staff and Tua have been attacking every day," McDaniel said. "He’s in a great spot. I’m really encouraged about the work that he’s doing for preventative injuries with his core and his neck training. His jiujitsu stuff has been outstanding, so doing all the things that we can control to best position us and he’s in a great place because of that. He’s excited."

Joe Schad is a journalist covering the Miami Dolphins and the NFL at The Palm Beach Post. You can reach him at jschad@pbpost.com and follow him on Instagram and Twitter @schadjoe. Sign up for Joe's free weekly Dolphins Pulse Newsletter. Help support our work by subscribing today.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa hopes to limit concussions with strong neck