Dolphins leadership delivers candid update on Tua Tagovailoa during season-ticket holder meet-and-greet
Miami’s new leadership isn’t shying away from the spotlight or talking about the hard decisions.
Miami Dolphins general manager Jon-Eric Sullivan and head coach Jeff Hafley are making the rounds.
After several seasons of a cryptic presence at general manager via Chris Grier, the new leadership in Miami is leaning into the public light. There’s been sit down interviews, press conferences, television appearances and, now, a meet and greet with season ticket holders. Sullivan and Hafley met with some of the Dolphins fanbase on Thursday night and dove into a slew of topics, including QB Tua Tagovailoa. Sullivan offered the latest update on the team’s standing with Tagovailoa as free agency looms a month away.
“Tua knows where we are”
“Of course, we’ll be looking at other quarterbacks in this draft. And every draft hereafter. But, look…Tua was in my office the other day, if I’m being perfectly frank. We had a great conversation. Tua has been a very good player in this league. He’s done a lot of really good things for the Miami Dolphins. You guys should be proud to have him and having had him.
I don’t know what the future holds right now, and I told Tua that. We’re working through some things. What I can tell you is that we’re gonna infuse competition into that room, whether Tua is part of the room, whether he’s not part of the room. We’re gonna infuse competition into that room, like we will do in every other position. Tua knows where we are. We’ve been very honest and upfront, and Tua also knows that he will be the first to know when we make a decision. So if Tua is the first to know, you guys can’t be the first to know, and I know that you respect and appreciate that.”
— Dolphins GM Jon-Eric Sullivan to season-ticket holders on Thursday night during an introductory panel
The first date on the calendar to know relative to a decision is coming up pretty quickly. It’s one month away from today, as a matter of fact. On March 13th, Tagovailoa is set to have $3 million of his 2027 salary become fully guaranteed. If the Dolphins don’t feel they’ve got a chance to trade the quarterback, they may opt to eject on his contract with a post-June 1 designation before March 13th to avoid another $3 million in future money triggering as guaranteed a year from now.
Should that money become guaranteed, the Dolphins would likely be eligible to have the expense offset by whatever another team pays him to play for them in 2027. So unless Tagovailoa is off a team all together in 2027, Miami could get nearly half of that money back on a minimum salary deal elsewhere or, potentially, the full amount back if he lands another contract in 2027 that’s worth $3 million or more.
In the scale of the money the Dolphins are navigating here, $3 million feels like a drop in the bucket. And, accordingly, it shouldn’t be the primary motivator in whatever decision the Dolphins ultimately end up landing on for their plan with Tagovailoa. But, as Sullivan disclosed to the fanbase last night, they’re “working through some things”. And a decision is sure to follow.
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