Mike McDaniel is way from assured of a fifth season as Dolphins HC, but he has reestablished some momentum since a rough start. Nonetheless, the Dolphins taking a one-sided loss in Pittsburgh crushed any hopes of a playoff berth.
The McDaniel storyline moves back to center stage, and the player he’s most closely tied to once more didn’t play well in cold weather. Tua Tagovailoa‘s dud in Pittsburgh has left the Dolphins 6-8, and each his and McDaniel’s futures are up within the air. For now, McDaniel didn’t guarantee Tagovailoa would keep his job to shut the season.
McDaniel called the team’s quarterback play “not adequate” (via NFL.com’s Cameron Wolfe) Monday night. The fourth-year HC said every thing was on the table regarding a QB move, with a choice coming Wednesday. The Dolphins’ staff is believed to have considered such a move previously, per veteran insider Jordan Schultz.
Tagovailoa and McDaniel have been joined on the hip because the HC’s 2022 hire. The previous 49ers OC revitalized the ex-Alabama star, with Tua leading the NFL in key passing categories annually from 2022-24 after a sluggish begin to his profession. The southpaw passer’s resurgence led to the Dolphins giving him a four-year, $212.4MM extension in July 2024. That contract complicates the futures of each Tagovailoa and McDaniel, as it would be quite difficult for the Dolphins to maneuver that deal in a 2026 trade on account of the guarantees remaining on it.
Tagovailoa is owed $54MM guaranteed for 2026 and doesn’t carry one of the best repute across the league. Each these aspects limit his trade value, and an inconsistent 2025 obviously brings concern about Miami’s ability to compete for a Super Bowl with Tua on the controls. For McDaniel to make his consideration of Tua public potentially points to the present Dolphins leader having enough support within the constructing — regarding a fifth 12 months in charge — though he didn’t answer an issue pertaining to this potential demotion impacting his 2026 status, per the Miami Herald’s Barry Jackson.
Miami doesn’t have good options behind Tagovailoa, having already toggled between Zach Wilson and Quinn Ewers on its depth chart behind the longtime starter. Wilson is tied to a one-year, $6MM deal; Ewers arrived as a seventh-round pick, though the Texans product was expected to go off the board much earlier. Ewers leapfrogged Wilson on the Dolphins’ depth chart earlier this 12 months, only to fall back to the QB3 level soon after.
The NFL’s leader in yards per attempt in 2022, passing yards in 2023 and completion percentage last 12 months, Tagovailoa has made 76 profession starts. His extension — one the Dolphins probably now regret — runs through the 2028 season. The primary realistic out within the deal is available in 2027, when a $31.8MM dead cap hit — a figure that might be split over two years via a post-June 1 designation — would are available the event of a release.
The Dolphins benching Tagovailoa now only to regroup around he and McDaniel in 2026 would obviously not encourage confidence, but McDaniel continues to be believed to have ownership support. The near this season will test that support, as a brand new GM would wish to just accept working with a possible lame-duck HC — within the event Stephen Ross follows through on rumors he’ll stay the course — and HC-GM misalignment has been a method teams are starting to avoid within the grand scheme. With Tagovailoa potentially being benched, Miami’s HC situation can be an area to closely monitor before Black Monday.