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 will 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.
Supposedly Colts offered Jones a deal similar to darnolds but jones wants 50 a year
I wonder if Tua or Murray could find their way to Indy if things break down with jones
Murray to Vikings seems realistic. If Rodgers and Steelers can’t work out a new agreement Tua might be a back up plan.
Arizona could be another spot. It feels like O’Connell wants Murray-for some reason-and I think that the Colts want Jones for familiarity’s sake. I don’t think that either team are out of the realm of possibility at all, though.
One team that would be interesting as well is Atlanta. Now, it’s probably not what Falcons fans want to hear, and there definitely could be better options (and worse options, for that matter), but a ball control Stefanski offense with several talented skill players and a good offensive line could relieve pressure off Tagovailoa if he ends up there. Most importantly, he gives Penix a chance to regain his job; if not, he could possibly be a starter for several games. It could happen, even if I don’t think that Tua is necessarily the Falcons’ first choice.
I won’t bother picking where Tagovailoa will end up, because he’s probably the consolation signing after the upper end of the free agent QB market finishes out, but he is a player who could start several games without removing the possibility of your young starting hopeful being shut out from regaining his spot. Basically, signing Tua doesn’t mean that your young guy is out of the running (e.g. Penix or McCarthy), but he could also start if they lose. He’s not the only option here like that, of course (Geno Smith, Jimmy Garappolo, Jacoby Brissett), but he’s had the highest ceiling recently. Perhaps a team picking a QB considers this, as well.
Tua’s next stop should be the club that just traded for his Dolphin teammate Minkah Fitzpatrick. J-E-T-S.
J-E-T-S will wind up with Tua or Murray as QB
Jones won’t get $50M especially with his latest injury. All of these giant QB contracts for the bottom half of QB’s is over, dead money is tough.
Yeah $50 million a year for him after one good year would be insane.
He has the cleveland browns written all over him
Jets and Vikings make most sense. O’Connell could more up on Kyler though.