Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa congratulates wide receiver Tyreek Hill after a touchdown against the Denver Broncos. Tagovailoa got the OK to return to the team this weekend. John McCall/South Florida Sun Sentinel

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — Miami quarterback Tua Tagovailoa cleared the NFL’s concussion protocol and will play Sunday against the Arizona Cardinals. It’s his first start since being concussed in Week 2.

On Monday, the Dolphins designated Tagovailoa to return to practice after spending about a month on injured reserve after suffering his third concussion of his NFL career on Sept. 12.

Tagovailoa has met with numerous medical experts who deemed it safe for him to play football again, according to the team. He needed to clear the NFL’s five-step return-to-play process, which came after he participated in practices and took contact without exhibiting concussion symptoms.

Tagovailoa was examined after Thursday’s practice by an independent neurological consultant, who cleared him to play Sunday, Coach Mike McDaniel said.

“Words can’t describe how excited I get for all players that have opportunities that I know they don’t take for granted,” McDaniel said Friday. “It’s very exciting from a human perspective as a coach for this team.”

Tagovailoa has not played since his latest concussion against the Buffalo Bills. He was subject to the rigorous return-to-play provisions.

“When we think about once a player is diagnosed, how they return. … they’ve got to become asymptomatic at baseline,” Allen Sills, the NFL’s chief medical officer, said during a videoconference with reporters this month, “and then go through a five-step graduated exercise program, gradually increasing activity, looking for any symptom provocation during each of those steps.”

The protocol is designed to take return-to-play timing decisions out of the hands of teams and coaches, and place them solely under the jurisdiction of doctors.

“Every situation, every concussion is unique,” Sills said.

“And so we don’t put a time stamp on those processes because they will differ depending on the severity of the injury. … This return-to-play process is meant to be conservative. It’s meant to be rigorous. There’s duplication in there. … And ultimately the final decision of return to play is made by the player with their medical advisers, and then that final clearance is given.”

Tagovailoa, whose two previous diagnosed concussions in the NFL came during the 2022 season, said Monday that he gave no consideration to retirement in the aftermath of this concussion. He had been symptom-free, he said Monday, since the day after suffering the concussion when he lowered his head into a jarring collision with Bills safety Damar Hamlin during the Dolphins’ second game of the season.

“No one’s advice affected anything that I thought in terms of returning,” Tagovailoa said. “So no one had an effect on it. I had some conversations with my wife, but that was it.”

Tagovailoa consulted with medical experts and asked them, he said, about the risks he faces. Sills stressed that while the league and NFL Players Association are involved in the return-to-play process to ensure that their protocols are followed properly, the decision about whether to continue playing after a concussion – or concussions – is the player’s to make, in consultation with doctors.

“Ultimately the decision … about return to play involves all of those stakeholders,” Sills said. “And then there’s a degree of medical autonomy. I think just like each of us, we want (a) decision-making voice in those decisions.”

Tagovailoa, 26, signed a four-year, $212.4 million contract extension with the Dolphins in July. He was a Pro Bowl selection last year, when he remained healthy and in the lineup for the entire season and led the NFL with 4,624 passing yards.

He said Monday that he has been throwing for five weeks to prepare for his return. Tagovailoa acknowledged that he must adjust his on-field playing style.

He is returning Sunday to a team that lost three of its four games during his absence to drop to 2-4. The Dolphins reached the playoffs in each of the past two seasons.

“I don’t think for myself I put any pressure on myself coming back and having to save the team,” Tagovailoa said Monday.