Chris Perkins: Brazilian black belt reveals how jiu-jitsu could help Dolphins’ Tua reduce concussions

If Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa strengthens his neck muscles, keeps his chin close to his chest when he falls and learns to land on his shoulder and roll instead of landing on his back, it’ll go a long way toward avoiding concussions.

That’s not me talking, that’s what Ailton Barbosa thinks. Barbosa is a third-degree Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt and instructor at American Top Team/Coconut Creek, one of the nation’s best MMA teams.

The Dolphins are having Tagovailoa study jiu-jitsu in the offseason. They hope it’ll teach him how to fall without that whiplash effect of his head hitting the ground.

“I think it’s going to be helpful for him,” Barbosa said.

Jiu-jitsu turned out to be the winning idea for the Dolphins.

Coach Mike McDaniel said the team had lots of ideas for teaching Tagovailoa how to fall and avoid concussions.

“We were willing to go to any length,” McDaniel said at last week’s NFL scouting combine. “However, with him getting invested in [jiu-jitsu] and really talking to him and hearing how the trainer is invested in him and how he was really into it and getting good residuals from it, we feel very comfortable in terms of this being best preparing him for things that he hasn’t otherwise been able to prepare for.

“It’s something, like a follow-through throwing motion, it’s something that we’re trying to train and he’s 100 percent all in, attacking it with vigor and exuberance.”

If this works, it’ll be regarded among the best offseason moves the team has made.

Keeping Tagovailoa healthy is one of the Dolphins’ biggest keys to success next season.

Some NFL analysts think if Tagovailoa stays healthy, the Dolphins will have a chance to make a deep playoff run — something the franchise hasn’t done in more than three decades.

Tagovailoa, entering his fourth NFL season, had 25 touchdowns, eight interceptions and a league-leading 105.5 passer rating last season. He would have gone to the Pro Bowl as an alternate, but he was still recovering from a concussion that he sustained against Green Bay on Christmas, roughly five weeks earlier.

Tagovailoa sustained two diagnosed concussions and three head trauma incidents last season. They caused him to miss five starts, including the 34-31 playoff loss at Buffalo.

Tagovailoa will have to learn several techniques through practice and repetition to avoid head trauma, but Barbosa thinks he should be able to master those principles because he’s a pro athlete.

Barbosa said the key training goals for Tagovailoa are to strengthen his neck, and when he falls he must keep his chin tucked close to his chest, which keeps his head off the ground, and land on a shoulder. These are things Barbosa teaches his fighters.

“You can learn it with practice,” Barbosa said. “It’s like anything you learn, it’s going to be a process. You’ve got to get strength, he’s got to adjust himself.”

Tagovailoa isn’t studying jiu-jitsu under Barbosa or at ATT.

In fact, Barbosa, a native Brazilian, said he doesn’t know much about American football.

However, Barbosa has seen all three of Tagovailoa’s head trauma incidents from last season — against Buffalo, Cincinnati and Green Bay — and has an idea how he’d train Tagovailoa.

First, he’d strengthen Tagovailoa’s neck muscles with weights.

“He has to strengthen the neck because of the helmet,” Barbosa said.

He’d have Tagovailoa lay on the ground, head up — on his right side, on his left side, and on his back — and do neck exercises to further strengthen the neck.

Barbosa said the key is to always keep the head up and off the ground.

“I think it’s a technique he’s got to get used to over and over, like muscle memory,” Barbosa said.

When Tagovailoa is falling, there are rules to prevent your head from whipping to the ground.

“Always, your head is going to be up,” Barbosa said, “your chin is going to be close to your chest.”

You also want to land on your shoulder and roll as opposed to, say, landing on your back.

“When they swing you backward,” Barbosa said, “you want to try to land on your shoulder.”

Barbosa said that can be controlled even when Tagovailoa is flung to the ground, as it happened in Cincinnati.

“When you go backwards, your chin is going to be here,” Barbosa said, putting his chin to his chest. “Always. Always.”

Learning to fall is a big thing, Barbosa said.

“When you fall backward or forward, we do a lot of rolls,” Barbosa said of MMA training.

Preparation for falling is as important as knowing how to land, Barbosa said.

“In American football, it can come from any direction,” Barbosa said of the jarring hits quarterbacks sustain, “but when you know something is coming you’ve got to be ready. MMA is the same thing. You kick, I’m ready. You shoot double leg, I’m ready. If I don’t block the takedown, at least I’m going to fall in good position.”

For Tagovailoa, falling in good position is as important as making accurate passes.

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