Dolphins Release QB Tua Tagovailoa
MARCH 12: Tagovailoa’s release is now official. The Dolphins have designated their six-year starting quarterback as a post-June 1 cut. As a result, Miami will take on a record-smashing dead money number. Tagovailoa has secured another opportunity, landing with the Falcons.
Atlanta is planning to pit Tagovailoa against fellow left-hander Michael Penix Jr. in an open competition ahead of the 2026 season. As Russell Wilson was in 2024 (and as Kyler Murray may well be this year), Tagovailoa is expected to be tied to veteran-minimum money. The Dolphins have used both their post-June 1 designations, making the same move to jettison Bradley Chubb (who has since joined the Bills).
MARCH 9: Tua Tagovailoa‘s Dolphins tenure is about to officially end. His release will take place at the start of the new league year on Wednesday, per a team announcement. 
“As we move forward, we will be focused on infusing competition across the roster and establishing a strong foundation for this team as we work towards building a sustained winner,” a statement from new general manager Jon-Eric Sullivan reads in part.
“As I shared with Tua, I have great respect for the person and player he is. On behalf of the Miami Dolphins, I expressed our gratitude for his many contributions, both on the field and in the community, during his six seasons.”
This will be a post-June 1 release, Ian Rapoport of NFL Network notes. That comes as little surprise, as it will allow Miami to spread out the record-breaking $99.2MM dead money charge in this case over two years. Thanks to Tagovailoa’s guarantees on his contract, he could account for $67MM a dead cap charges in 2026 as the Dolphins move forward with their full-scale roster reset.
Alternatively, that dead money figure could be split more evenly. As Jason Fitzgerald of Over the Cap notes, Miami’s decision on a pending option bonus will dictate how this release is processed from a financial standpoint. The team could take on $55.4MM in dead money now with the remaining $43.8MM being delayed t0 2027.
In any case, today’s news confirms Tagovailoa will be among the veteran quarterbacks on the market this week. The former first-rounder was the subject of a tanking effort from Miami leading up to the 2020 draft. With Joe Burrow off the board, the Dolphins opted for Tagovailoa over Justin Herbert, who was selected one pick later by the Chargers. Burrow and Herbert remain in place with their respective teams and are attached to monster contracts. Tagovailoa, 28, inked a mega-extension of his own in 2024 but things did not go according to plan afterwards, to say the least.
The former No. 5 pick earned a Pro Bowl nod for his level of play in 2023, a year in which he led the NFL in passing yards. Tagovailoa managed a healthy campaign leading up to his extension agreement, but that was not the case in 2024. After being limited to 11 games that year, Tagovailoa’s future, as well as that of head coach Mike McDaniel and general manager Chris Grier was a talking point. Grier was fired in the middle of the 2025 campaign, one in which McDaniel (who was himself dismissed after the year ended) benched a healthy Tagovailoa. Since then, the Alabama product has been open to a fresh start.
Given the major guarantees present in Tagovailoa’s contract, interested teams have been willing to wait for a release before making a push to acquire him. A veteran minimum deal will now be in store from a suitor seeking an inexpensive option under center. The Vikings and Jets have been mentioned as possibilities, but more teams could be in the fold as well.
Miami, meanwhile, will seek out a new QB1 under Sullivan and former Packers colleague Jeff Hafley. The new GM-HC tandem’s Green Bay background has led to the expectation of a Malik Willis pursuit, but a less expensive option may be needed given the team’s cap situation. In any event, a new setup will be in place at the quarterback spot as a new Dolphins era begins in 2026.
Falcons To Hold Open QB Competition Between Penix, Tagovailoa
The Falcons now have an embarrassment of riches when it comes to left-handed quarterbacks, and both have a decent amount of starting experience. According to Cameron Wolfe of NFL Network, Atlanta will have incumbent passer Michael Penix and newcomer Tua Tagovailoa work in an open competition for the QB1 position in 2026. 
The Dolphins struggled mightily to move the contract of Tagovailoa before they ultimately had to make the decision to cut him. Per Wolfe, they tried packaging money and draft picks into trade deals just so teams might be more at ease at the aspect of taking on such a heavy contractual obligation. But considering that one team, according to Jonathan Jones of NFL on CBS, claimed it would take the inclusion of a first-round pick to convince them to take on Tagovailoa’s deal, Miami had no choice in the end but to cut bait and move on to bigger fish.
The Dolphins shouldering the burden of the $54MM in guaranteed money still owed to Tagovailoa gave the 28-year-old quarterback the freedom to not worry about the financial aspect of his next contract. With guaranteed money on its way to the bank, Tagovailoa could accept a deal for the league minimum if that’s what it would take to land in the best situation for him.
Utilizing that freedom, Tagovailoa landed in Atlanta, where Wolfe reports new head coach Kevin Stefanski sold him on the idea of being in an open competition for the starting quarterback job with Penix. Luckily for Stefanski, this year’s quarterback battle should be a bit easier to handle than last year’s in Cleveland. The late-season battle between rookies Dillon Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders posed a unique problem. Stefanski wanted each rookie to have the opportunity to make their NFL debuts in offenses designed specifically for them. Though they played in similar offensive systems in college, the two played with two different playing styles and threw the football with opposite hands.
In Atlanta, Stefanski now, at least, has his two quarterbacks throwing from the same side of their body. Both have starting experience but, for both, that experience came in a different offensive system that what Stefanski was doing in Cleveland. The change in leadership at the top of the coaching staff helped ease news of the competition to Penix. Instead of being told by a coach that had given him a starting job that he was losing it, Penix’s new head coach informed him of the team’s move to acquire Tagovailoa, per Wolfe, and told him to come ready to compete, when healthy.
Tagovailoa showed an incredibly high ceiling during his time in Miami, throwing for a league-leading 4,624 passing yards in 2023 and completing a league-high 72.9 percent of his passes in 11 games the next season, but his 2025 campaign is one he’ll surely want to forget. He’ll be ready to move on with a focus on utilizing a new group of weapons to beat out his incumbent competition and prove he can still be a starter in the NFL.
After getting slow played into a starting role in his rookie year, Penix displayed a safe but tepid offense through 11 games as a starter before tearing his ACL. The team hopes introducing Tagovailoa into the mix as competition will jumpstart their hopeful franchise quarterback into a higher gear, once he returns to full health. They expect Penix to be cleared to compete sometime in the offseason, at which point they will begin the competition to see who will be named the best left-handed quarterback in Atlanta since Michael Vick.
Minor NFL Transactions: 3/11/26
Today’s minor moves:
Arizona Cardinals
- Re-signed: RB Zonovan Knight
- Signed: LS Casey Kreiter
Atlanta Falcons
- Signed: C Corey Levin, LB Channing Tindall
Carolina Panthers
- Re-signed: DE Trevis Gipson, TE James Mitchell
Cleveland Browns
- Signed: TE Jack Stoll
Dallas Cowboys
- Signed: LB Tyrus Wheat
Denver Broncos
- Re-signed: FB Adam Prentice
Green Bay Packers
- Re-signed: OLB Brenton Cox, DT Jonathan Ford
Los Angeles Chargers
- Re-signed: LS Josh Harris
Miami Dolphins
- Signed: S Zayne Anderson, TE Ben Sims
New England Patriots
- Signed: S Mike Brown, TE Julian Hill
New York Giants
- Re-signed: LB Zaire Barnes
New York Jets
- Re-signed: OT Max Mitchell
Pittsburgh Steelers
- Re-signed: OL Jack Driscoll
San Francisco 49ers
- Re-signed: RB Patrick Taylor
Seattle Seahawks
- Re-signed: LS Chris Stoll
Tennessee Titans
- Signed: DE Malik Herring
Dolphins Sign CBs Darrell Baker, A.J. Green, Alex Austin
The Dolphins continue to make additions on defense. Cornerback Darrell Baker has agreed to terms on a one-year deal, per his agents (via Tom Pelissero of NFL Network).
[RELATED: Dolphins To Sign DB Lonnie Johnson Jr.]
In addition, the team has announced the signing of fellow corner A.J. Green. Those two will join a new-look secondary in 2026. Miami agreed to terms with Lonnie Johnson Jr. earlier today. And to top it all off, the Dolphins have agreed to a one-year deal with cornerback Alex Austin, per Jordan Schultz.
Baker is coming off a two-year stint with the Titans, where he emerged as a part-time starter. He started 19 of his 34 appearances between 2024 and 2025, collecting 95 tackles and 12 passes defended. He primarily played as an outside cornerback during his stint in Tennessee, although he also made same cameos at safety, at slot corner, and in the box.
The former UDFA out of Georgia Southern started his career with the Cardinals before catching on with the Colts practice squad. After making only three appearances with Indy as a rookie, he got into 14 games (six starts) in 2023. He inked a one-year extension with the organization during the 2024 offseason, but he was waived by the Colts at the end of that year’s preseason.
Green had a four-year stint with the Bengals to begin his professional career. He’s since bounced around a bit, spending time with the Vikings, Rams, and Dolphins. He split the 2025 campaign between Miami and Los Angeles, where he mostly appeared on special teams.
Austin spent the majority of his three-year career in New England, where he got into 26 games. He started six games during his Patriots tenure (including two in 2025), but he mostly earned his worth on special teams. Austin got into 220 ST snaps during his time in New England, including 120 this past year.
Adam La Rose contributed to this post.
OLB Bradley Chubb To Join Bills
Designated a post-June 1 cut by the Dolphins, Bradley Chubb intends to join one of their rivals. The Bills are bringing in the former top-five pick, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports.
Chubb is signing a three-year, $43.5MM contract with Buffalo. Of that total, $29MM is guaranteed. The deal can max out at $52.5MM. This signing could point Joey Bosa out of Buffalo, but with a new defensive system being implemented, the Bills are making changes to that unit early in free agency.
Miami officially designated Chubb a post-June 1 release, per NFL.com’s Tom Pelissero. This long-rumored cut will create $20.23MM in cap space for a Dolphins team that made history with its other post-June 1 designation today. Tua Tagovailoa‘s release will tag Miami with an NFL-record $99.2MM in dead cap. That money will be spread over two years, but it still smashes the record Russell Wilson‘s Broncos release set in 2024.
Long deploying a 4-3 defense, the Bills are switching to a 3-4 scheme under new DC Jim Leonhard. Chubb is a career-long 3-4 outside linebacker, beginning in that role with the Broncos and moving to the Dolphins via a blockbuster 2022 trade. The former Denver Von Miller sidekick has battled major injuries — two ACL tears — during his time as a pro, but he bounced back with a healthy 2025 season. Still, the Dolphins’ new regime moved on.
Drafted two spots before Josh Allen in the 2018 first round, Chubb pursued the rookie-year sack record and reached 12 alongside Miller that year in Denver. He missed most of the 2019 season with an ACL tear and battled more injury trouble in 2021, seeing Denver unload him at the ’22 deadline. Chubb signed a Dolphins extension in 2022 but suffered a second ACL tear late in the ’23 season and missed all of 2024. This led to a reworked deal in 2025.
Returning to play his age-29 season last year, Chubb started in all 17 of the Dolphins’ games and recorded quality counting stats. Chubb finished the campaign with 47 tackles (eight TFL), 20 QB hits and 8.5 sacks. On the other hand, Pro Football Focus was unimpressed with the two-time Pro Bowler, whom it ranked 103rd among 119 qualifying edge rushers.
With Bosa and A.J. Epenesa among their free agents, it was obvious the Bills would need to add at least one established edge rusher this offseason. Those two combined for 1,000 defensive snaps and 7.5 sacks in 2025. Bosa led the league with five forced fumbles, though his impact dropped off to a noticeable degree as the season progressed.
The Bills were involved in the free agency sweepstakes for Trey Hendrickson, but he agreed to a four-year, $112MM deal with the Ravens on Wednesday. They also factored into the initial round of trade talks for Raiders defensive end Maxx Crosby. While Crosby could become available again after the Ravens backed out of a trade with the Raiders, the Chubb signing may take the Bills out of the running.
Connor Byrne contributed to this post.
Dolphins To Sign DB Lonnie Johnson Jr.
Lonnie Johnson Jr. has lined up his next NFL gig. The veteran defensive back has agreed to a one-year deal with the Dolphins, NFL insider Jordan Schultz reports.
Miami will be the latest in a long line of stops for Johnson, who entered the league as a second-round pick in 2019. The Kentucky product spent his first three years in Houston, where he logged 19 of his 22 career starts. Johnson has since gone through one-year stints with the Titans, Saints, Panthers and Raiders. He also had brief offseason runs in Kansas City and another in Houston along the way.
Johnson posted his most productive season in 2021, a 55-tackle, three-interception effort over 14 games with the Texans. In 48 games since then, Johnson has recorded just 56 tackles and one pick.
Johnson’s year in Las Vegas got off to an inauspicious start when he suffered a broken fibula in an August practice. When the Raiders assembled their season-opening roster later that month, they placed Johnson on IR with a designation for return. The Raiders activated Johnson toward the end of October. He wound up starting in two of nine games and making 25 tackles. The 30-year-old worked as a free safety for the majority of his snaps (243 of 321).
Johnson is the third depth signing of the day for Miami’s defense. The Dolphins previously agreed to deals with edge rusher Josh Uche and linebacker Willie Gay.
Adam La Rose contributed to this post…
Dolphins To Sign Josh Uche
After a one-year stint with the Eagles, edge rusher Josh Uche is returning to his native Miami. The Dolphins are signing Uche to a one-year pact, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports.
A Patriots second-round pick in 2020, Uche was at his best during an 11.5-sack outburst in 2022. He has been unable to reach those heights since then. Over the past three seasons, which he divided among the Pats, Chiefs and Eagles, Uche combined for six sacks in 40 games.
Uche has started just four of 76 games in the NFL. The 6-foot-3, 226-pounder continued in a rotational role last season in Philadelphia, where he came off the bench in all 12 appearances.
Across 244 defensive snaps, Uche registered just three QB hits and one sack. While those numbers are uninspiring, Uche accrued 23 pressures and 21 hurries, per Pro Football Focus. PFF assigned Uche an impressive 85.1 grade for his work as an Eagle.
Now that Uche is heading to Miami, he will reunite with new Dolphins linebackers coach Al Washington. He coached Michigan’s LBs in 2018, when Uche notched seven sacks during his junior year with the Wolverines.
Teaming up with Washington again, Uche could log more playing time on a rebuilding Miami club devoid of edge rushers beyond Chop Robinson. Bradley Chubb led last year’s Dolphins with 8.5 sacks, but they released him in a cost-cutting move. If Uche is successful in helping to fill Chubb’s void, he could set himself up for a better deal a year from now.
Dolphins To Re-Sign LB Willie Gay
The Dolphins just saw K.J. Britt agree to terms with the Patriots, but another of their role players on defense is staying. Veteran linebacker Willie Gay is coming back to Miami on a one-year deal, The Exhibit’s Josina Anderson tweets.
Formerly the Chiefs’ top Nick Bolton sidekick, Gay never signed a second Kansas City contract. The Chiefs ended up preferring Drue Tranquill, re-signing him in 2024 and letting Gay walk. Gay joined the Saints that year and played last season with the Dolphins. Today marks his third straight one-year contract.
Miami had Gay on a one-year, $1.34MM deal in 2025. That represented a pay cut from his Saints rate ($3MM); it is safe to say Gay’s stock has dropped from when he was a three-time Chiefs Super Bowl starter.
Although Gay played 17 Dolphins games last season, he only started two. This came after 47 Chiefs starting assignments and eight with the Saints. Gay, 28, played just 12% of Miami’s defensive snaps in 2025.
Jordyn Brooks resides as the Dolphins’ linebacking centerpiece, and Tyrel Dodson is also under contract. A former first-round pick, Brooks is entering the final season of his three-year, $26.25MM contract. As I discussed in PFR’s Dolphins Offseason Outlook, the prolific tackler should be an extension candidate. But the Dolphins have hired new decision-makers, clouding that matter to a degree. But Jeff Hafley will use Gay as a defender/depth piece next season.
Dolphins, K Zane Gonzalez Agree To Deal
The Dolphins are signing kicker Zane Gonzalez to a one-year deal, agent Mike McCartney announced on X.
A veteran of seven NFL teams and seasons, the 30-year-old Gonzalez will replace the long-tenured Jason Sanders in Miami. Sanders had been a Dolphin since 2018, but they released him last week after he missed all of last season with a hip injury. Riley Patterson, now a free agent, filled in for Sanders last year.
In moving to South Florida, Gonzalez will reunite with new Dolphins special teams coordinator Chris Tabor. When Gonzalez was a rookie in Cleveland in 2017, Tabor was in charge of the Browns’ special teams unit. Tabor held the same position in Carolina in 2022. Gonzalez was on the Panthers’ roster then, but he missed the entire season with a quad injury.
Since entering the league as a UDFA from Arizona State nine years ago, the oft-waived, oft-injured Gonzalez has put together just two full seasons. He did not kick for anyone from 2022-23, though he resurfaced with the Commanders in ’24 for a nine-game stint (including three in the playoffs). Washington re-signed and then released Gonzalez last spring.
After the Commanders cut him, Gonzalez had to wait until last November for another contract. Two days after John Parker Romo missed an extra point in a 24-23 loss to the Patriots, the Falcons waived him and brought in Gonzalez. The move worked out for both sides. Gonzalez made 19 of 22 field goals (86.4%) and 17 of 18 extra points (94.4%).
Although he kicked in just nine games, 2025 was one of Gonzalez’s best seasons. During his 78-game career, Gonzalez has hit 81% of field goals (115 of 142) and 163 of 171 extra points (95.3%).
Dolphins To Sign QB Malik Willis
11:13pm: Willis will see both his 2026 and 2027 base salaries fully guaranteed, SI.com’s Albert Breer reports. A $2MM roster bonus is due in March 2028. Year 3 will have a nonguaranteed salary. Still, the Dolphins will be paying the Tagovailoa dead money and Willis’ fully guaranteed compensation over the next two years.
11:51am: Despite taking on a record-setting dead money sum from the impending Tua Tagovailoa release, the Dolphins will be the team that signs off on Malik Willis‘ second contract.
Willis is reuniting with Jon-Eric Sullivan and Jeff Hafley in Miami, according to NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport, who reports the sides agreed on a three-year deal worth $67.5MM. Willis will receive $45MM guaranteed at signing.
While not a $30MM-per-year contract like recent rumors indicated, Willis will still cash in via that nice guarantee number. This figures to provide at least a two-year runway for Willis in Miami, which will spread the Tagovailoa dead cap hit through 2027. Still, a $99.2MM dead cap hit over that span and a $20MM-plus QB salary will be an interesting route to take. A bit of a smokescreen effort may have taken place on the Dolphins’ part, as Sullivan pointed to the team’s cap situation making it difficult to win the Willis sweepstakes.
In terms of AAV, Willis is set to hover in unoccupied territory. This number comes in south of the Baker Mayfield–Sam Darnold tier but well north of backup money. The full guarantee likely became a strong sweetener for the Jordan Love backup, who drew interest from a few teams — the Browns, Cardinals and Steelers among them. Presenting a strange free agency profile with six career starts, Willis ranked seventh on PFR’s top 50 free agents list. He will do much better than Justin Fields in terms of fully guaranteed money; the Jets gave their 2025 starter at $30MM guarantee.
Fields’ $20MM-per-year deal is the only QB contract in this neighborhood, but the Jets are about to terminate that deal. Soon, Willis’ $22.5MM AAV number will be the only QB pact in between Cam Ward‘s rookie salary ($12.21MM) and Mayfield’s current $33.3MM AAV.
Mike Vrabel deemed Willis unplayable late in the 2022 season, after the third-round rookie looked erratic in his short time at the helm. The Titans drafted Will Levis in 2023 and parked Willis behind he and Ryan Tannehill. A new Titans coaching staff signed off on trading the Jon Robinson-era draftee to the Packers for a low-end return in summer 2024. Willis became needed immediately, with Love going down with an injury in Week 1 of that season.
Matt LaFleur customized the offense to suit Willis’ skillset, and the effort created a market. Willis ran his start count from three to six in Green Bay, putting up eye-popping (and unsustainable) numbers. He compiled a 6:0 TD-INT ratio in Green Bay, having completed 70 of 89 attempts at a college-y 12.1 yards per pass. Willis also averaged 6.2 yards per rush (29/261/3). Willis will now work under Bobby Slowik, who will run a LaFleur-type scheme. Both are Kyle Shanahan disciples.
With Willis committing to Miami within an hour of the legal tampering period’s outset, other QB-needy teams will not need to authorize higher-end guarantees — most likely, at least. But some of those teams will be left scrambling, as a host of needs exist on this year’s market. That helped inflate Willis’ value despite the six career starts.
The Dolphins gave Tagovailoa six years but erred by giving him a $53.1MM-per-year extension in 2024. The Mike McDaniel passer showed tremendous promise as an accurate thrower, but concussions gave way to inconsistency for the left-hander. Miami benched Tagovailoa late in McDaniel’s tenure and was never seriously linked to retaining him — despite what would have been a easier route contractually — this offseason. Sullivan will take a risk with Willis due to his limited sample size, but he and Hafley certainly have plenty of information on him from the sides’ two-year overlap in Wisconsin.