Tua Tagovailoa seems to agree with the Miami Dolphins about the best path forward in 2026
Here’s to a fresh start in 2026?
The Miami Dolphins‘ offseason process is going to be centered around choosing a new face of the football operation. That process has started today — as Miami has sent out half a dozen interview requests for executives across the league for their vacant general manager position. Once the Dolphins commit to an executive, their offseason will center around another decision:
What to do with veteran quarterback Tua Tagovailoa. The signal caller is owed north of $50 million in fully guaranteed compensation in 2026 from the team. He was also benched in December. Amid the options Miami will face, they all seem to be pointing to the same ultimate outcome. With Miami sitting Tagovailoa down on the bench, it has been widely speculated and reported that the Dolphins want to move on before the 2026 season. And, for what it is worth, Tua Tagovailoa seems to agree that it’s the right call.
Tua Tagovailoa “would be good” with a “fresh start” in 2026
Joe Schad of the Palm Beach Post offered one of the most enlightening quotes from Miami’s end-of-season press availabilities when he shared that Tagovailoa, who has been Miami’s starting quarterback since midway through the 2020 season, “would be good” with a fresh start this year. The Dolphins seem ready to move on. Tagovailoa seems ready, too. Shoot, he even thinks it would be “dope”, so it’s hard to think he’d disagree with the decision.
The path in Miami has clearly played itself out. Not in a favorable way, but it is played out nonetheless. The unfortunate byproduct for the Dolphins is that this has all come to pass after the team signed Tagovailoa to a market-rate contract extension in 2024. Had everyone involved known how quickly things would sour, 2024 would have been Tagovailoa’s final year and the Dolphins would have pivoted in a different direction this past offseason.
Instead, the Dolphins will have to wear a big, fat ‘L’ for this. And no matter what happens to Tagovailoa, he’s due a whole bunch of money for his troubles. How badly does Tagovailoa want out? Enough to play ball on his guaranteed salary? Or just enough to be cut loose if a trade proves too complex to pull off? These are questions we likely won’t know for months. But they are ones that will define this offseason in South Florida either day.
Tua Tagovailoa’s career numbers with
the Miami Dolphins
- 44-32 career record
- 68% completion percentage, 120 touchdown passes, 59 interceptions
- 18,166 passing yards
- 0-1 playoff record
Miami Dolphins News
Dolphins waste no time in GM search, submitting five interview requests within hours of season’s end
…and we are off!
