As the new league year is fast approaching, the Dolphins have been working desperately to figure out a way out of the corner they’ve painted themselves into. As it’s been reported recently that Miami is nearing a decision on the future of quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, it appears one option may be getting taken away from the team. 
According to SportsBoom’s Jason La Canfora, there is “no trade market” for Tagovailoa. All conversation from both the Dolphins and Tagovailoa concerning the future has revolved around the idea of a trade. At season’s end, Tagovailoa made it known that he would welcome a fresh start elsewhere, while the team made it known their hope was to trade him. Our most recent update before this indicated that the Dolphins were still focused on the trade route for Tagovailoa’s exit, and they expressed a willingness to eat some of money owed to the quarterback in order to make it happen.
Just before the 2024 NFL season, Miami made the move to sign Tagovailoa to an extension following a season in which he led the NFL in passing yards while starting every game of the season for the first (and only) time in his career. In the wake of several other record-breaking contracts at the position, the Dolphins agreed to a four-year, $212.4MM deal with over $167.17MM in guaranteed money. Since then, Tagovailoa has missed a combined nine games in two seasons and, after averaging over 260 yards per game in three straight seasons, saw his average yards per game plummet to 190 this year.
We knew that Tagovailoa’s benching this year, combined with his huge contract and injury history, made a trade difficult, forcing the Dolphins to offer up the possibility of throwing in some offsetting cash. Per La Canfora, though, Tua isn’t a difficult trade piece; he’s a non-starter. Backed by input from several top NFL executives, La Canfora seems to indicate that teams in the league are already so turned off by Tagovailoa’s poor play and frequent concussions that they’re not even willing to take him on at a reduced rate.
La Canfora included a series of quotes from said executives, with several not limiting themselves to the language of polite society. One general manager simply told La Canfora, “They’re (screwed.” He went on to call the contract untradeable, saying that, even with Miami “willing to eat a (boat)load of” Tagovailoa’s contract, they “just don’t see a market for him.”
Another top exec relayed to La Canfora a “four-pronged” list of reasons Tagovailoa was and the Dolphins were stuck with each other. It started with Tagovailoa’s inability to effectively push the ball down the field and make plays consistently anymore. It then moved to perceived leadership issues with concerns that he couldn’t move a locker room and comes off as ingenuine. The third prong called his concussion history alone “a no-go for a lot of teams,” and the fourth ended by calling his deal a “terrible…contract that nobody wants to touch.”
If Miami is unable to trade Tagovailoa, they will then be forced with the new decision of whether to cut him or keep him. In keeping him, the Dolphins would be retaining one of the most expensive backup quarterbacks in the NFL. As they attempt to obtain a new, young option at the position this offseason with which to move forward, Tagovailoa’s continued presence could create uncertainty and doubt in the locker room. Cutting the 27-year-old, though, would shoulder the Dolphins with $99.2MM in dead money without providing any cap savings. Cutting him now would lock than money in for the 2026 season alone, whereas the best-case scenario would see the team designate him as a post-June 1 cut, allowing them to split that $99.2MM over two seasons.
Essentially, though the Dolphins seem to believe they’re making a decision between three options, the rest of the league appears to have limited them to two. Miami will need to figure out how best to work around the massive contract obligations that remain tied to Tagovailoa as they attempt to move on to a new era of quarterback.
You don’t say. A highly paid poor performer who is 1 concussion away from retiring doesn’t have a market. Absolute shocker.
A meh to bad QB with a history of concussions making a ton of money. And there’s no trade interest? Shocker.
They’re delusional if they ever believed there would be on in the first place. Who would want to take on that contract with his injury issues, and provide *any* value back in return?
Tua’s washed, he’s shown that with his play.
What the first word you think of when you mention his name?
Begins with a C.
Sad…but
He’s done.
Probably the biggest winner in here is tua. He can remain making a boatload of cash and not actually take the field where he’ll likely have his head cracked.
Poor dude! He needs to hang it up.
Texans added a 2nd rd pick to get osweilers contract off the books? Wouldve taken a 1st and 2nd to move tua’s.
Booohooo