On the heels of an unpleasant loss to the Steelers, the Dolphins are benching quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com reports. Rookie Quinn Ewers will start Week 16 against the Bengals.
Once 2-7, the Dolphins reeled off 4 straight wins to remain within the playoff picture. Their 28-15 defeat in Pittsburgh on Monday officially eliminated them from postseason contention. Tagovailoa went 22 of 28 for 253 yards and a touchdown, but he also took 4 sacks and threw his NFL-worst fifteenth interception. Head coach Mike McDaniel said afterward that the Dolphins’ QB play was “not ok.”
With McDaniel indicating on Tuesday that a QB change was into account, it’s not surprising the Dolphins will sit Tagovailoa on Sunday. Nonetheless, the Dolphins definitely didn’t expect it to return to this 17 months after signing Tagovailoa to a four-year, $212.4MM extension in July 2024. Miami agreed handy Tagovailoa $167.1MM in guaranteed money. He’s due $54MM in guarantees in 2026, which can make it difficult for the Dolphins to maneuver on from the soon-to-be 28-year-old within the offseason.
Tagovailoa has handled quite a few concussion issues throughout his profession, but that didn’t stop the previous fifth overall pick from logging quality production under McDaniel in previous seasons. The ex-Alabama standout registered a passer rating upward of 101.0 in each season from 2022-24. He led the NFL in yards per attempt in 2022 (8.9), finished first in passing yards in 2023 (4,624), and paced the league in completion percentage last 12 months (72.9).
Tagovailoa has stayed healthy this 12 months, but together with already posting a career-worst INT total, his other numbers have underwhelmed. While Tagovailoa has reached the 20-TD mark for the third time and accomplished 67.7% of passes, he has averaged just 6.9 yards per attempt en path to an 88.5 rating. His 36.7 QBR ranks thirtieth amongst 33 qualifying signal-callers. Only J.J. McCarthy, Geno Smith, and Cam Ward have been worse in that regard.
Having already parted with general manager Chris Grier in October, Dolphins owner Stephen Ross and the subsequent GM can have to make a decision the right way to proceed with Tagovailoa and McDaniel within the offseason. As mentioned, Tagovailoa’s contract is onerous. Designating Tagovailoa a post-June 1 release would go away the Dolphins with $99MM in dead cap spread over 2026 and ’27, Jonathan Jones of CBS Sports notes.
That might be the most important dead cap hit in league history, easily surpassing the $85MM the Broncos ate once they released Russell Wilson in March 2024. A trade would even be difficult to tug off, explains Jones, who points to Tagovailoa’s contract, his struggles in cold weather, and his less-than-stellar status across the league as roadblocks.
Even when he doesn’t reclaim the starting job, the Dolphins could have to ride it out for one more 12 months with Tagovailoa. Together with Tagovailoa, McDaniel has helped the Dolphins to the playoffs twice since 2022. He seems prone to return for a fifth season in 2026, but that’s not a sure thing yet.
For now, McDaniel will pin his hopes on Ewers, a seventh-rounder who enjoyed a powerful starting profession at Texas from 2022-24. The Dolphins have toggled between Ewers and veteran Zach Wilson within the No. 2 role this season. Wilson’s a former second overall pick who amassed 33 starts with the Jets from 2021-23, but he was a serious letdown during that stretch. While the Dolphins gave Wilson a $6MM contract last March after he worked as a backup in Denver in 2024, this will go down as a second straight start-less campaign for the 26-year-old.