NFL insider provides some clarity on what the Dolphins are likely to do with Tua Tagovailoa
The Dolphins appear to have settled on a course of action regarding their one-time franchise QB.
Will they, or won’t they? The question about whether the Miami Dolphins will move on from QB Tua Tagovailoa this offseason — and whether they should — has been one that’s been a primary talking point for Dolphins fans and media for much of the offseason.
And the question of course doesn’t turn on whether they should in a vacuum. It’s clear that Tagovailoa’s time as the team’s starting quarterback has run its course and that both sides need a fresh start. It’s a matter of whether the team feels it can and/or should move on and take the massive cap hit associate with parting with him, or if they should consider keeping him in 2026.
NFL insider Jeff Darlington effectively torpedoed the retention option recently, so it’s more a matter of how the team is planning their break with him.
According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter on Sunday morning, that move will “almost certainly” come by way of a post-June 1 designated release.
ESPN NFL insider Adam Schefter says Miami Dolphins will ‘almost certainly’ release Tua Tagovailoa with a post-June 1 designation
The move is a logical one. Finding a trade partner would require the Dolphins to eat a lot of salary, and so far, any framework of an acceptable trade doesn’t appear to have materialized.
So, regarding a release, a pre-June 1 release would carry a $99.2 million dead cap number, which would be the biggest in NFL history. Not the kind of history you want to make surely. It would also be a $42.9 million hit against the 2026 salary cap.
But as a post-June 1 designated release, that dead money number drops town to $67.4 for 2026 and allows them to pass $31.8 of that on to 2027. It also drops their 2026 cap hit from $42.9 million to $11.1 million, which makes this year substantially more manageable. It obviously still won’t be easy, but it gives them more room to work with this year and balance out the dead cap money.
It’s going to take a little bit of time for the financial sting of ripping the Band-Aid off to go away, but it appears as though the Dolphins are set to make that move. And the team can finally and fully begin to go in another direction as they search for that first elusive playoff win in a quarter century.
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