{"id":802599,"date":"2026-03-09T15:17:15","date_gmt":"2026-03-09T15:17:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/802599\/"},"modified":"2026-03-09T15:17:15","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T15:17:15","slug":"miami-dolphins-to-release-quarterback-tua-tagovailoa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/802599\/","title":{"rendered":"Miami Dolphins to release quarterback Tua Tagovailoa"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Tua Tagovailoa era for the Miami Dolphins<\/a> is over.<\/p>\n

The Dolphins are cutting their one-time franchise quarterback whom the team selected with the No. 5 pick of the 2020 draft and signed to a lucrative contract extension in 2024, the Dolphins announced Monday morning before free agency in the NFL kicked off at noon.<\/p>\n

\u201cI recently informed Tua and his representation that we are going to move in a new direction at the quarterback position and will be releasing him after the start of the new league year,\u201d new Dolphins general manager Jon-Eric Sullivan said in a statement. \u201cAs 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 in Miami.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

The release signifies Sullivan couldn\u2019t find a trade partner to offload Tagovailoa and his contract. He was set to make $54 million guaranteed in 2026. A league-record $99.2 million dead cap hit comes with the cut of Tagovailoa.<\/p>\n

The move is designated as a post-June 1 release, according to a league source, so that cap hit is split over the next two seasons, with $67.4 million of the dead money going against the team in 2026.<\/p>\n

The Dolphins made social media posts thanking Tagovailoa for his time with the franchise and created a video of his highlights in Miami. Tagovailoa posted a lengthy and heartfelt message thanking the Dolphins, his teammates, coaches, front office and fans.<\/p>\n

Since Tagovailoa was benched toward the end of the past season, it was expected Tagovailoa would not return. It was clear parting ways with Tagovailoa was part of Sullivan\u2019s plan at the NFL scouting combine, when the new head man in charge of Miami\u2019s roster said \u201ceverything\u2019s on the table\u201d<\/a> regarding the left-handed quarterback.<\/p>\n

With Tagovailoa off the roster, rising second-year passer Quinn Ewers is one of two quarterbacks under contract for 2026 along with prospect Cam Miller, who was signed toward the end of the 2025 season while Champ Kelly was interim GM. It\u2019s unknown what the new regime thinks of Zach Wilson, the former No. 2 pick in 2021 who was a backup last season and is now set for free agency again.<\/p>\n

Ewers is expected to vie for the starting job next season against competition at the position brought in through free agency and\/or the draft. Possible Dolphins options in free agency, opening at 12 p.m., include Malik Willis, Kirk Cousins, Geno Smith and others.<\/p>\n

Tagovailoa was benched for Ewers last December with three weeks remaining in the season. As players cleaned out their lockers at season\u2019s end, Tagovailoa indicated he would welcome a fresh start elsewhere<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Tagovailoa played six seasons with the Dolphins. He is the franchise\u2019s career leader in passer rating (96.4) and completion percentage (68) among quarterbacks with at least 200 attempts. He is fourth in passing yards (18,166) and touchdowns (120), behind Dan Marino, Bob Griese and Ryan Tannehill in both categories.<\/p>\n

Tagovailoa\u2019s professional career in Miami, after he was a college football star at Alabama, started inauspiciously, as he was largely doubted for his ability in the NFL.<\/p>\n

After an uneven first two seasons under the tough coaching of Brian Flores, coach Mike McDaniel, who was fired after the 2025 season, can be credited for sparking a turnaround for him going into 2022.<\/p>\n

Tagovailoa led the NFL in passer rating (105.5) and yards per attempt (8.9) in 2022, passing yards (4,624) in 2023 and completion percentage (72.9) in 2024.<\/p>\n

Missing time suffering two documented concussions in 2022, Tagovailoa overcame the head injuries in 2023 and made his lone Pro Bowl appearance after a fully healthy season.<\/p>\n

The injury concerns resurfaced in 2024, though, as he missed four games on injured reserve due to a concussion and then sat the final two games of the season with a hip ailment.<\/p>\n

In 2025, it wasn\u2019t injuries but performance. While healthy, he threw 15 interceptions in his 14 starts, which was up for the league lead until he was benched.<\/p>\n

Earlier this offseason, Dolphins offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik, promoted to that role by new coach Jeff Hafley from being senior passing game coordinator last season, said he feels we haven\u2019t seen the last of Tagovailoa in the NFL.<\/p>\n

\u201cAbsolutely I think Tua can, he can absolutely bounce back,\u201d Slowik said Feb. 4. \u201cI think that\u2019s one of the great things about sports.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Tua Tagovailoa era for the Miami Dolphins is over. The Dolphins are cutting their one-time franchise quarterback…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":477227,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[7,95805,251,49,48,3452],"class_list":{"0":"post-802599","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-football","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-jon-eric-sullivan","10":"tag-miami-dolphins","11":"tag-ncaa","12":"tag-ncaa-football","13":"tag-tua-tagovailoa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116199885801026332","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/802599","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=802599"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/802599\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/477227"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=802599"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=802599"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=802599"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}