Tua became a punching bag after being drafted before Justin Herbert. Herbert got off to a hot start while Tua played for a coach who neither respected him nor thought he was worth developing. Different coordinators in his first two seasons while playing for a rebuilding team didn't put him in position to succeed. Then, the national talking heads took aim at him [Colin Cowherd, Mina Kimes, Skip Bayless, almost everybody at ESPN, etc.] and the narrative was that he was a bust.

Fast forward to a year later and he has a coach and a team that fit him and halfway through the season, he led the league in passer rating, QBR, completion percentage, yards per attempt, and a few other categories. He finished top three in all of those and had he played in 13+ games, would likely be in the MVP conversation.

Those people who literally laughed at him last season couldn't admit they were wrong, so most just ignored him to act like they hadn't gone on record with knee jerking hot takes and now looked foolish. Those are the folks who are now talking about him quitting the game after three seasons. Those are the folks who ignore others with more concussions than he had like the aforementioned Tee Higgins, Mike Marsh, and DeVante Parker. Tua's a lightning rod for all of the wrong reasons. If the doctors clear him to play, he should do what makes him comfortable. If not, then he should accept the diagnosis and move on.

But it's very premature to suggest that what he's experiencing now is more significant or concerning than it is for the 30% or so other NFL players who sustain multiple concussions in their seasons, and the many more who have several in their careers.

This might come off like I'm a wishful fan, but I'd feel this way about any player in a similar situation. This is less about his injury than it is about how many conversations and phone calls he can generate for sports media.