Tua Tagovailoa faces a career decision whether to retire. Again.

And this time, he'd be wise to widen the circle of people he consults to help him make it.

Thursday night, the Miami Dolphins and former Alabama football quarterback sustained another frightening concussion in the Dolphins' loss to the Buffalo Bills. On a tackle by the Bills' Damar Hamlin, Tagovailoa fell to the ground and exhibited what's known as a fencing response — an involuntary stiffening of the arms or fingers — that medical experts view as a clear sign of brain trauma. Some bodies aren't built for the NFL, and it's becoming increasingly apparent that Tagovailoa's probably isn't.

Officially, it was the third concussion of his pro career.

Unofficially, who knows? Mild concussions are tricky to identify, even for the players who suffer them. Outward signs aren't always readily apparent. The head injury he suffered Thursday could've been his fourth, or fifth, or eighth, but now he's got to decide whether it was his last.

REACTION: Players react to former Alabama football QB's injury vs Bills

TUA'S CONCUSSION TIMELINE: Dolphins QB exits game against Bills with head injury

Thursday marked the second time he's displayed the fencing response, the first coming in a game against the Bengals in 2022, for which he was taken off the field on a stretcher. And lest anyone forget, four days earlier, the back of Tagovailoa's head hit the turf after he was shoved to the ground in another game against the Bills, after which he rose on wobbly legs and fell down before being removed for concussion testing. He then returned and finished the game. In an incredibly awkward procedural sequence, the Dolphins said he'd suffered a back injury, yet within a week, the NFL Players Association fired the neurotrauma consultant who was assigned to the game. And within two weeks, the NFL altered its concussion protocols based on an investigation into how Tagovailoa was handled.

I wrote at the time that early retirement should at least be a consideration for Tagovailoa, and he later acknowledged that he gave it some thought in the 2023 offseason. A lot has transpired since then, making the decision he faces now a very different choice. In 2022, he was playing on a rookie contract worth about $30 million. Now he's onto his second contract, worth $212 million, more than half of which is guaranteed.

Money should be a non-factor.

That he's only 26 should be a non-factor.

That he's emerged as one of the NFL's better quarterbacks shouldn't be a factor, either.

Tagovailoa has said he consulted doctors and family when he first considered retirement, and they'll no doubt be part of his reconsideration. They should be. But perhaps he should also talk to the family of Junior Seau, the late Hall of Fame linebacker who committed suicide three years after retirement and whose brain was found to have the degenerative disease CTE (Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy), which is caused by concussions. Maybe Tagovailoa should speak to Darryl Talley, the former Bills linebacker who has cited brain trauma in explaining severe depression and other mental struggles. He could put in a call to the Boston University CTE Center, which last year announced it had diagnosed CTE, which can only be identified post-mortem, in the brains of 345 out of 376 late NFL players that it studied.

This isn't about Tagovailoa's career. It's about his long-term quality of life.

And there's no such thing as talking to too many people about that.

Tuscaloosa News columnist Chase Goodbread is also the weekly co-host of Crimson Cover TV on WVUA-23. Reach him at cgoodbread@gannett.com. Follow on X.com @chasegoodbread.

This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Miami Dolphins QB Tua Tagovailoa faced with retirement decision again