Tua Tagovailoa's Dolphins Tenure Might've Just Ended
The Miami Dolphins have not exactly reached the heights they envisioned in the Tua Tagovailoa era, and that era may officially be over now.
Contractually, it'll be quite difficult for the Dolphins to move on from the longtime QB, but after being officially benched for the final three games of the season, it's hard to imagine him playing in Miami ever again.
Dolphins Officially Bench Tua Tagovailoa
The move to sit Tua Tagovailoa down has been a long time coming. He's become quite turnover-prone, and he is no longer able to offset it with chunk plays.
The Dolphins' offense as a whole has struggled. Some of it can be tied to the regression and now absence of Tyreek Hill, but it's also not a secret that the quarterback has just flat-out played poorly for a while.
The Dolphins had been on a crusade to reenter the playoff picture despite facing an uphill battle. For several weeks, they marched right back into it. However, their loss on Monday night officially ended all hope of a playoff berth. It might've ended the tenure of Tua Tagovailoa. Interestingly enough, the Dolphins are bypassing backup Zach Wilson and starting day-three rookie Quinn Ewers.
The quarterback now leads the NFL with 15 interceptions in 14 games played. That's not an ideal output, especially without Hill in there to provide big plays. The Mike McDaniel-Tagovailoa pairing was once exciting, but now it seems like two people biding time in their current positions.
The Dolphins already fired their GM. They were reportedly not going to fire McDaniel early. They wanted to see how the team responded to him this season.
To his credit, they responded by reeling off several wins in a row and seemed to turn the tide. Now that they're eliminated, these final few games could be an audition of sorts for McDaniel, who has been with Tagovailoa for four seasons now. The quarterback's audition might be over, and it doesn't look like he got the part for next year.
What's Next?
Tua Tagovailoa is not exactly an intriguing QB option. Perhaps in the right system and with the right pieces around him, he could be competent again.
But teams with those sorts of systems and pieces either have quarterbacks or are not going to want to take on the declining veteran. He's incredibly costly to trade for with a massive contract, and even if he's cut, he isn't all that inspiring.
A rookie, an injured Daniel Jones, a traded Kyler Murray, and a potentially not-retired Aaron Rodgers all represent better options for virtually any QB-needy team. It's really hard to see where Tagovailoa will end up if he's released.
Perhaps he could be the next reclamation project like Jones or Sam Darnold, but it's difficult to envision him even getting a chance to compete somewhere right now.
Plus, it's going to be insanely difficult for Miami to move on. Per Adam Schefter, a release would be one of the most devastating moves to the salary cap a team has ever endured. The QB has $54 million guaranteed to him next season. If he's on the roster by March 15, $3 million more becomes guaranteed. A cut would lead to $99 million in dead cap.
For reference, it was a historically damaging move for the Denver Broncos to cut Russell Wilson ahead of the 2024 season. That cost them $85 million in dead money. Tagovailoa's seemingly inevitable release would shatter that. If the Dolphins designate it a post-June 1 cut, then it would split the money. They'd accrue $67.4M in dead money in 2026 and $31.8M in 2027.
Either way, the future is incredibly bleak for both Tagovailoa and the Dolphins.
