On the heels of an ugly loss to the Steelers, the Dolphins are benching quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com reports. Rookie Quinn Ewers will start Week 16 against the Bengals.
Once 2-7, the Dolphins reeled off four straight wins to stay in the playoff picture. Their 28-15 defeat in Pittsburgh on Monday officially eliminated them from postseason contention. Tagovailoa went 22 of 28 for 253 yards and a touchdown, but he also took four sacks and threw his NFL-worst 15th interception. Head coach Mike McDaniel said afterward that the Dolphins’ QB play was “not good enough.”
[RELATED: Team Demotes Tagovailoa To Third-String Level]
With McDaniel indicating on Tuesday that a QB change was under consideration, it’s not surprising the Dolphins will sit Tagovailoa on Sunday. However, the Dolphins certainly didn’t expect it to come to this 17 months after signing Tagovailoa to a four-year, $212.4MM extension in July 2024. Miami agreed to hand Tagovailoa $167.1MM in guaranteed money. He’s due $54MM in guarantees in 2026, which will make it difficult for the Dolphins to move on from the soon-to-be 28-year-old in the offseason.
Tagovailoa has dealt with numerous concussion issues throughout his career, but that didn’t stop the former fifth overall pick from logging quality production under McDaniel in previous seasons. The ex-Alabama standout registered a passer rating upward of 101.0 in each season from 2022-24. He led the NFL in yards per attempt in 2022 (8.9), finished first in passing yards in 2023 (4,624), and paced the league in completion percentage last year (72.9).
Tagovailoa has stayed healthy this year, but along with already posting a career-worst INT total, his other numbers have underwhelmed. While Tagovailoa has reached the 20-TD mark for the third time and completed 67.7% of passes, he has averaged just 6.9 yards per attempt en route to an 88.5 rating. His 36.7 QBR ranks 30th among 33 qualifying signal-callers. Only J.J. McCarthy, Geno Smith, and Cam Ward have been worse in that regard.
Having already parted with general manager Chris Grier in October, Dolphins owner Stephen Ross and the next GM will have to decide how to proceed with Tagovailoa and McDaniel in the offseason. As mentioned, Tagovailoa’s contract is onerous. Designating Tagovailoa a post-June 1 release would leave the Dolphins with $99MM in dead cap spread over 2026 and ’27, Jonathan Jones of CBS Sports notes.
That would be the largest dead cap hit in league history, easily surpassing the $85MM the Broncos ate when they released Russell Wilson in March 2024. A trade would also be difficult to pull off, explains Jones, who points to Tagovailoa’s contract, his struggles in cold weather, and his less-than-stellar reputation around the league as roadblocks.
Even if he doesn’t reclaim the starting job, the Dolphins may have to ride it out for another year with Tagovailoa. Along with Tagovailoa, McDaniel has helped the Dolphins to the playoffs twice since 2022. He seems likely to return for a fifth season in 2026, but that’s not a sure thing yet.
For now, McDaniel will pin his hopes on Ewers, a seventh-rounder who enjoyed a strong starting career at Texas from 2022-24. The Dolphins have toggled between Ewers and veteran Zach Wilson in the No. 2 role this season. Wilson’s a former second overall pick who amassed 33 starts with the Jets from 2021-23, but he was a major letdown during that stretch. While the Dolphins gave Wilson a $6MM contract last March after he worked as a backup in Denver in 2024, this may go down as a second straight start-less campaign for the 26-year-old.
If nothing else, it’s a hilarious indictment of Zach Wilson. I guess it’s still possible for Ewers to show something, but he never even lived up to his recruitment hype in college. I wouldn’t be holding my breath now.
Seriously, Ewers’ deep throws look like punts.
Makes sense, they now know for sure Tua ain’t the guy and are eliminated, might as well jump into evaluation mode
And if the Guy you evaluate is vastly worse…It helps the Draft Positioning. Furthermore, if the evals fail and you bring back TUA next year…might as well keep him off the field at this point with his concussion history in meaningless games.
Kyler and Tua both will be on the market. But who wants $50m average QB’s? Hard to trade them.
I figure the Steelers will pass on drafting a QB, will wait until March or April on Rodgers again, and then a guy like Kyler will end up here. It’s the Steelers Way these days
Unfortunately…there isn’t going to be a decent QB available wherever the Steelers end up drafting. And they have too many holes to trade all of the draft capital they have to move up. Besides…why not see what they have in Will Howard?
They’ve proven they’ll trade up to get a guy in the past, but you’re right. For who?
And if Rodgers retires, I’d hope your suggestion is how they’d proceed
You are right. And look how well their most recent several selection trade up went (Devin Bush). I don’t know how I feel about Rodgers for next season. Personally, I’d like to not waste another year of Howards rookie deal. Surely he doesn’t need to sit a second season, but I don’t know. I’m not on the field at practice or in the QB during film discussions and meetings. That said, I’d rather have Rodgers than Tua or Kyler. Or anyone else that’s bound to be available.
If the Dolphins would attach a first round draft selection with Tua, I wouldn’t mind seeing the Raiders take a gamble on seeing if a change of scenery helps him. Las Vegas will have cap space, and way too many holes to fill them all in free agency.
Worst case, Tua produces a season much like this, but you essentially bought an extra draft pick, plus time to see if next year’s QB crop looks anymore promising. Tua is basically your bridge QB for a year or two.
Best case, unlikely as it is, Tua hits, and then you’re rolling.
Seems like a knee jerk kind of reaction by coach. They just had a win streak snapped and maybe it’s because I’m from Pittsburgh but it sure looked like the Dolphins didn’t want to be here in the cold more than anything else. I’m not saying Tua is an A-lister but sending him to the bench now seems a bit ridiculous
If Rodgers retires anything is possible. Tomlin seems like a veteran sort of guy so Kyler could be on the table
In hindsight, the problem was giving these them $50M and caving to a crazy market at the time.
I don’t agree with this. Does Ewers really give McDaniel the best shot at keeping his job? I get that he has struggled at times, but benching him doesn’t do anyone favors. He still needs to show his trade value if he’s playing on the field. Maybe Raiders might bite in the offseason, since it’s close to Hawaii for him?
Putting him on the field may also decrease his trade value.
The next two games will not change the perception of Tua. Even if he balls out, which he very clearly won’t, he is not a leader. He has made several miscues in the media and teams and players take notice.
There’s 3 more games for them.
Home: Cincinnati and Tampa Bay
Away: New England to end the season.
I agree with your statement about it won’t change the perception of Tua though. Valid point. They can easily be 8-9, not a great record but considering 2-7, they could carry some momentum into the offseason and have a good draft class and be around 10-11 wins next year. Wouldn’t be the first time we saw a team like that (Detroit in 2022).
Do you honestly think the Dolphins can win 10-11 games next year?
Ewers showing something is the hail mary to save his job.
Yeah, at this point Ewers might play well enough to justify keeping McDaniel, where Tua is known that without Tyreek Hill, he sucks. Worth the gamble.
Its not for 2026 just tanking the rest of this year.
Imagine making $54mill plus to sit on a wooden bench. Insane
Id be so good at that. So good.
I’ll even hold a clipboard and wear a headset without complaining.
I’d be the best bench sitter multi millionaire ever
Kirk was pulling $25M last year to sit on the bench.
Blame that on management, not Kirk. Kirk learned how to master the NFL contract system and made hundreds of millions; good for him and his family!
Him and Sam Bradford. The best to ever juke the system.
Deshaun Watson on line 1…
I’d gladly sit my ass on a stool made of swords for 6 straight months to make that kind of cash.
Same lmao
I dont agree with it, especially soon after a four game winning streak but the Dolphins do need to see if Ewers can respond. Its obvious that Waddle isnt nearly as good without another star opposite him. Imagine if Waller had been more available during the year?
With TUAs concussion history, no point running him out. See if Ewers can be a QB2 and help your draft spot in the process.
Dolphins clearly plan on tanking the rest of the way.
Seems that way unless Ewers can get going with Waddler? With Tua I feel they could still get to eight wins. The Steelers do deserve credit since Ramsey and Fitzpatrick knew Tag’s ability. They do have quality if underachieving defenders. McDaniel could have his boss in his ear?
That may be the end result, but I don’t think it’s the intention. The issue with Tua is the albatross contract……..specifically for next season. If you’re keeping him/stuck with him, which would seem logical based solely on the cap hit you don’t want to take, why bench him now? Why bench the guy you expect to lead you next year for three games that literally don’t matter. He’s also proven to be a mental midget, so this will not go over well. This has the makings of a divorce and them willing to bite the bullet for two years. They won’t get lucky like Denver did and turn Russell Wilson’s cap hit into Bo Nix (because the Dolphins haven’t been able to evaluate talent since late in the first round in 1983), but by any metric that you need and expect a guy to be a franchise quarterback, Tua has proven to not be that guy. They had the opportunity to select Herbert and chose this mope instead. They haven’t won a Super Bowl since Nixon was President. What a pathetic organization.
Tyreek Hill made Tua better than he really is. Mic drop.
Time to trade him…what a crap show Miami has become…..
Change of scenery isn’t going to change the way this guy plays. We all know he’s a hot away from being forced to retire. That’s a big hesitation. Mid arm strength means he need to have impeccable timing and accuracy, which he does not. That’s a hesitation. The contract is the final straw. Guys like Tua and Kyler Murray are not fit to be successful long term NFL QB’s. They’ve literally proved it. Teams that want to find their franchise QB at a yard sale get what they deserve. Fix your organization inside first. Stick with your coach. Let him get a QB that fits and let it develop. The only tried and true way but it takes patience and owners are the hindrance here. As well as media talking heads.
What did McDaniel have to say about his inept clock management in the 4th quarter against the Steelers? How did he justify going for two successive 2 point conversions when the team was still trailing by a bunch of points? Like one point extra on a conversion would make much of a difference AND as it was, BOTH FAILED, so they BLEW their chances for a more “SAFE”, “AUTOMATIC” 1 pt conversion kick
I think they should sign Kyle Trask. then let him and Ewers battle it out in off-season and trade Tua or just use him as a third string till it makes sense to cut him.
I always thought Tua was just average and injury prone. his WRS made him look better then he is .
Who’s trading for that contract?
Ewars wasn’t much good in college. Not sure why he’s on a NFL roster now, let alone starting. This does look like tanking.
We know what Zach Wilson is. Over the course of three meaningless games, why not see what Ewers looks like? Literally nothing to lose. If nothing else, you may have found a legitimate backup. To me, it feels like Mac Jones will be their bridge quarterback next year. The bridge to where, I have no idea……….
From “Tank For Tua!” to now Tanking With Tua!