New Miami Dolphins General Manager, Jon-Eric Sullivan announced that the team is exploring all options when it comes to Tua Tagovailoa. In layman’s terms, the Dolphins will try to move on from Tua to avoid a massive dead cap hit if they have to cut him.
It’s not a surprising move for Miami. Tua has had a rough last few seasons in the aqua and orange. 2025 was especially rough, seeing a significant drop off in his completion percentage, total yards, yards per attempt, QBR, and passer rating. He also had a career high in interceptions and only one more touchdown than the year prior, while playing in three more games.
If you no longer believe in Tua, I seriously don’t blame you. Miami looks content moving on from Tua for Quinn Ewers, who wasn’t exactly lighting the world on fire, or poking around in the Malik Willis sweepstakes if they are able to move off of Tua’s massive contract. I think moving on from Tagovailoa is the right move for the Dolphins, but I’m not completely out on him as an NFL player.
The biggest concern when it comes to Tua is the health. He has a laundry list of injuries over his NFL career, but this past season, he was only really absent when he was benched at the end of the season. I talked about it being a down year for Tua, but he did show some flashes, including a 4-touchdown outing against the Falcons and a 3-touchdown, 265-yard game against the Panthers.
Also, the Dolphins weren’t some juggernaut only being held back by Tua. They had the 29th-ranked offensive line according to PFF last season, his number one receiver, Tyreek Hill, missed most of the year with an ACL tear, and his defense rarely set him up with good field position. Mike McDaniel is known for being an offensive mastermind, but not even he could generate anything consistent with this offense.
I wouldn’t be a team willing to eat his $50M salary in a trade, but if or when the Dolphins cut him, I would be willing to give him one more chance. Across the NFL, you see players getting second chances and thriving when they are put in better situations. Tua led the NFL in passing yards in 2023 and was top 10 in QBR as well. He’s only 27-years-old, if a team like the Vikings could get a hold of him, I think he could give you a bounce-back year.
Maybe I’m blinded by what Sam Darnold has just done, but I think someone needs to give Tua one last shot.
