Before Miami took the field for an NFL playoff game against the Buffalo Bills with seventh-round rookie Skylar Thompson at quarterback on Sunday, ESPN, citing anonymous sources, reported Tua Tagovailoa was “expected to return” as the Dolphins’ starting quarterback for the 2023 season.

The two things – Thompson’s postseason presence and a report on Tagovailoa’s future – are connected by the former Alabama All-American’s concussions during the 2022 season, which put Thompson on the field and gave rise to speculation that Miami would seek to move on from Tagovailoa after another injury-affected campaign.

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After the Dolphins’ 34-31 loss to the Bills ended their season on Sunday, Miami coach Mike McDaniel was asked about the ESPN report and Tagovailoa returning in 2023.

“First and foremost, you guys know that with Tua, I’m worried about it on a day-to-day basis,” McDaniel said. “How’s he doing today? And just worried about his health.

“Now with that being said, yeah, of course. You guys know how I feel about Tua. That hasn’t changed at all. I think we all see him as the leader of this team. When it’s appropriate for him to lead the team, we’ll jump on that opportunity. He’s a great player with only improvement in front of him as well. We’re talking about a 24-year-old quarterback that I think when I signed up for this job, I spent six months trying to convince people that he was good, so the fact that Las Vegas saw it as a four-point swing when I announced that he was (out) means that he’s a – yes, this is a challenging time for him. Yes, his health is of primary importance. But I’d be a fool to not embrace him when he’s healthy and ready to go. And we’ll all be excited for that.”

In the 2022 regular season, Tagovailoa had the NFL’s top passing-efficiency rating at 105.5. He completed 259-of-400 passes for 3,548 yards with 25 touchdowns and eight interceptions.

But he missed five games (including the playoff contest) and more than half of another because of two concussions – one sustained on Sept. 29 in a 27-15 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals and the other on Dec. 25 in a 26-20 loss to the Green Bay Packers.

For the first concussion, Tagovailoa was at University of Cincinnati Medical Center by halftime. But on the second, Tagovailoa played the entire game against the Packers – with three interceptions in the fourth quarter – before entering the NFL concussion protocol the next day.

After joining Miami as the fifth pick of the 2020 NFL Draft, Tagovailoa did not play in the first five games of his rookie season, made his debut with one series in the sixth, moved into the starting role in the seventh and missed the 11th game with a thumb injury. In 10 games, he completed 186-of-290 passes for 1,814 yards with 11 touchdowns and five interceptions for a passer rating of 87.1. Tagovailoa also ran for 109 yards and three touchdowns on 36 carries during the Dolphins’ 10-6 season in 2020.

During the 2021 season, rib and finger injuries caused Tagovailoa to miss four full games and at least half of two others. He completed 263-of-388 passes for 2,653 yards with 16 touchdowns and 10 interceptions for a 90.1 passing-efficiency rating. Tagovailoa also ran for 128 yards and three touchdowns on 42 carries during Miami’s 9-8 season.

This season, the Dolphins had an 8-4 record in the games in which Tagovailoa took a majority of the snaps and a 1-5 mark in the games in which he did not. Miami’s wide receiver combination of Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle produced the third-most receiving yards by a pair of teammates in NFL history in 2022, but they didn’t catch a touchdown pass without Tagovailoa at quarterback.

A more realistic question concerning Tagovailoa and the Dolphins would appear to be: What will Miami do with the quarterback in 2024?

That’s relevant now because the question will need to have at least a preliminary answer before the 2023 season starts.

As with the contracts of all first-round draft picks, Tagovailoa signed a four-year deal that included a team option for a fifth season. The deadline for the Dolphins to pick up that option for the 2024 season is May 1.

If Miami uses its option, the Dolphins would be obligated to pay Tagovailoa a projected $22.426 million for the 2024 season before he ever takes a snap in 2023. The total value of his four-year rookie contract is $30.275 million.

Miami could decline its fifth-year option this offseason and still control Tagovailoa for the 2024 season by using its franchise tag next offseason to keep him out of free agency. The franchise-tag value for a quarterback in 2023 is projected at $32.445 million – and it won’t be less in 2024.

The Dolphins have a third option with Tagovailoa. Now that he’s completed three NFL seasons, the quarterback is eligible for a contract extension. According to the sports-financial website spotrac.com, if Tagovailoa hit the open market after the 2023 season, his market value would be a six-year, $238.512 million contract – an average of $39.752 million per season.

Of course, Miami has another option, the reason for the “expected to return” report: Replace Tagovailoa, which the Dolphins apparently have sought to do previously.

In August, the NFL announced Miami would forfeit its 2023 first-round draft choice and 2024 third-round draft choice, team owner Stephen Ross had been fined $1.5 million and suspended through Oct. 17 and Vice Chairman Bruce Beal had been fined $500,000 for violations of league policies related to the integrity of the game.

The investigation found the Dolphins violated NFL anti-tampering rules on three occasions. Two came with quarterback Tom Brady.

The first round of impermissible communications from August 2019 through that season’s playoffs came when Brady played for the New England Patriots. They preceded the Dolphins’ selection of Tagovailoa in the NFL Draft on April 23, 2020.

But the report said the Dolphins also had contact with Brady during and after the 2021 season about the quarterback becoming a limited partner and possibly an executive with the team. The discussions also included “at times” the possibility of Brady playing for the Dolphins.

Brady will be under center when the Tampa Bay Buccaneers play the Dallas Cowboys in the NFC playoffs on Monday night. But it could be his last game with the Bucs with his contract coming to an end this season, and NBC Sports’ profootballtalk.com has reported, citing an anonymous source, that Brady to Miami for 2023 is “definitely on the table.”

But Brady wasn’t the only quarterback that Miami sought to acquire in 2021. Not too long before the Dolphins renewed their interest in Brady, general manager Chris Grier worked to get Deshaun Watson from the Houston Texans as the NFL trade deadline approached in November.

Watson had earned Pro Bowl recognition in each of the previous three seasons, but he didn’t play a snap for the Texans in 2021 after souring on the team and its leadership during the offseason. He wanted to be traded, and reports indicated he wanted to be traded to the Dolphins, at least while Brian Flores was the coach.

Miami didn’t get Watson and didn’t re-enter the pursuit last offseason, when the Cleveland Browns won the bidding battle for the quarterback by sending six draft choices, including first-rounders in 2022, 2023 and 2024, to the Texans, then signing Watson to a five-year, $230 million fully guaranteed contract.

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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.