Tua Tagovailoa looms as the Dolphins’ elephant in the room as a new regime arrives — and a new report doubles down on Miami’s mindset

Are the Dolphins and Tua Tagovailoa still headed towards a divorce this offseason?

Kyle Crabbs — NFL National Writer

Jan 23, 2026 6:20 AM EST

The elephant in the room for the Miami Dolphins this offseason just so happens to be a former member of the Crimson Tide.

Miami’s football leadership said hello to the football world on Thursday. As owner Stephen Ross stated at the top of the introduction, he’s hoping for a “new beginning”. Pretty much everyone in Miami is these days, including embattled quarterback Tua Tagovailoa. The seventh-year quarterback is guaranteed handsome compensation for 2026 — but did not finish the season as the starting quarterback in 2025. Does the upheaval elsewhere in Miami suggest they may ride out the last year of his guarantees? ESPN insider Jeff Darlington said yesterday that isn’t exactly the case.

Jeff Darlington says the Dolphins are still prepared to move on from Tua Tagovailoa

“When we look at the fact that (the Dolphins) fired Mike McDaniel, some might say ‘well maybe that means they want to put somebody else with Tua’. That is not the case. Organizationally, I would say that they actually held McDaniel to a higher regard at this point than Tua as the franchise quarterback. Obviously there are the salary cap implications that could make (coach Jeff) Hafley take a second look at this, but I do think that organizationally they are prepared to move on from Tua even as they bring in this new regime. They understand what that comes with. We saw it in Denver, it can work. But it does take lockstep, as you guys said, with the head coach and the general manager. And it also means, when it comes to the draft, you cannot miss.”

— Jeff Darlington on the blueprint in Miami & Tua Tagovailoa’s role in it

We’ve been hearing reports and murmurs about Tua Tagovailoa’s time in Miami coming to a close as early as mid-season in 2025 — an interesting timeline given that the team did not have a general manager for much of that timeframe. Given the Dolphins’ desire to be a collaborative braintrust, it is probably safe to assume that the other parties at the top were the ones determining the path forward (or lack thereof) for the quarterback in Miami.

Executive Brandon Shore, the team’s vice president of football & business administration, is responsible for the salary cap management of the team. Given how much of the weight of the Tagovailoa decision lies in the impact of the 2026 (and possibly 2027) salary cap, a lot of these conversations have likely already been had before in the months prior. Now, with the team’s new leads of the football operation in place, those conversations can continue.

General manager Jon-Eric Sullivan politely passed on the opportunity to disclose any plans the team has at quarterback on Thursday.

“Obviously that’s a huge question looming over the organization. I’d be naive to think that everybody doesn’t understand that. I have a lot of respect for Tua. He’s a good football player. He’s accomplished a lot in this league. I think whether it’s Tua or anybody else, it’s unfair and irresponsible for me to sit up here and talk about anything specific before I’ve talked to the player himself,” said Sullivan.

“With Tua or anybody else, to sit up here today and tell you that I have a great understanding of what we’re going to do or which way we’re going to go, that would be a lie because there’s just too much work to do. There’s too many conversations to be had at this point…We have to figure that out. We will, but today’s not the day I can give you that answer.”

It’s a strong mark in the test of “doing things the right way” for Miami’s new general manager and a tough inherited situation. Sullivan, head coach Jeff Hafley, and the rest of the parties involved do, indeed, have a ton of conversations to have — and not a lot of time to have them. But this one, based on the reports that have preceded their arrivals and continue as they say hello to the football world, seems to be pretty open and shut. It’s not “if” but rather “how”?