The Miami Dolphins’ reset has evolved into a full-blown rebuild. They announced Monday that will release veteran quarterback Tua Tagovailoa after the start of the new league year.
“As I shared with Tua, I have great respect for the person and player he is,” first-year Dolphins general manager Jon-Eric Sullivan said in a statement. “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 in Miami.
“As we move forward, we will be focused on infusing competition across the roster and establishign a strong foundation for this teams as we work toward building a sustained winner.”
By cutting Tagovailoa, Miami will absorb an NFL-record $99 million in dead money, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
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But the Dolphins are reportedly releasing Tagovailoa with a post-June 1 designation. In other words, per NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero, as of June 1, the team can split that record dead cap hit: $67.4 million in 2026 and $31.8 million in 2027.
Tagovailoa’s career was once again in question during the 2024 season when he suffered yet another concussion, his fourth in five seasons at the time. During the 2025 season, his split with the Miami Dolphins became inevitable when Mike McDaniel — who committed to Tagovailoa as the Dolphins’ quarterback of the future throughout most of his four-season head-coaching stay — benched the 2020 No. 5 overall pick.
That decision foreshadowed an offseason of change, which picked up speed with McDaniel’s firing and continued with the hiring of Green Bay Packers defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley as his replacement.
The Dolphins have a new leadership structure in place, which pairs Hafley with former Packers executive and current general manager Jon-Eric Sullivan, and they’ve cleaned house.
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In addition to fostering a mostly new staff, they’ve expunged the roster of some of its biggest names. Miami cut two-time Pro Bowl edge rusher Bradley Chubb and, even more notably, eight-time Pro Bowl wide receiver Tyreek Hill, who is recovering from a dislocated knee and torn ACL.
The Dolphins also let go of guard James Daniels, whom they had signed to a three-year, $24 million deal less than a year earlier.
Now the organization has officially said goodbye to Tagovailoa, too. That separation, however, is the least bit surprising, considering it’s practically been written on the wall since his mid-December benching.
Tagovailoa, 28, scattered 15 picks across 14 starts this past season. When he lost his job to seventh-round rookie Quinn Ewers, he was leading the NFL in interceptions. Tagovailoa went four straight outings from Weeks 10-13 without registering more than 173 passing yards in a game.
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In Weeks 6 and 7, he tossed three interceptions back-to-back games.
After the first of those two performances, Tagovailoa called out teammates for showing up late and not showing up at all to players-only meetings during their 1-5 start to the season. While he soon apologized for his postgame comments, they were a stain on an increasingly head-scratching 2025 résumé that warranted skepticism about his viability as a long-term starting quarterback in the league.
Tagovailoa’s concussion history is concerning as well.
Following a concussion that the one-time Alabama national champion sustained during a “Thursday Night Football” defeat to the Buffalo Bills in Week 2 of the 2024 season, he consulted neurologists about the risks of continuing his football career.
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He ultimately decided to carry on, just as he did in the wake of a 2022 campaign that saw him land in the league’s concussion protocol twice. Back then, he was also knocked out with a scary “Thursday Night Football” head injury, that time against the Cincinnati Bengals.
Tagovailoa has played a full slate of regular-season games just once in his six-season career. That was in 2023 when he threw for a league-high 4,624 yards and made his lone Pro Bowl.
The season prior, he led the NFL in passer rating (105.5) and touchdown percentage (6.3%), albeit in only 13 games because of the aforementioned injuries.
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And then in 2024, he was first among all qualifying quarterbacks with a 72.9% completion percentage, yet he played in a mere 11 games that season.
=Stacked on top of each other, those marks are quite impressive. Plus, he’s fueled two playoff trips. But McDaniel’s quarterback-friendly system and a receiving corps laced with speed undoubtedly gave Tagovailoa a boost. His arm strength deficiencies are well-documented, after all.
Timing and rhythm are his friends. A similar offensive scheme and improved decision-making could help him rediscover the success he’s enjoyed in the NFL.
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