A decision written on the walls for months is now coming to fruition.
The Miami Dolphins will release quarterback Tua Tagovailoa after the start of the new league year, the team announced Monday.
It's a massive commitment to a fresh start by new head coach Jeff Hafley and general manager Jon-Eric Sullivan, as moving on from Tagovailoa requires Miami to take on a record-setting $99.2 million in dead money.
By designating Tagovailoa as a post-June 1 cut, a Dolphins club already strapped for cash can at least spread out the hit over the next two seasons.
"I recently informed Tua and his representation that we are going to move in a new direction at the quarterback position and will be releasing him after the start of the new league year," Sullivan said in a statement. "As I shared with Tua, I have great respect for the person and player he is. On behalf of the Miami Dolphins, I expressed our gratitude for his many contributions, both on the field and in the community, during his six seasons in Miami.
"As we move forward, we will be focused on infusing competition across the roster and establishing a strong foundation for this team as we work towards building a sustained winner."
This day has been coming for some time, a future foretold most clearly when Miami benched Tagovailoa for the final three games of the 2025 season. Though the firing of coach Mike McDaniel and hiring of Hafley and Sullivan could have provided Tagovailoa a reprieve, by Super Bowl weekend the NFL Network Insiders had reported the Dolphins were expected to move on from the oft-maligned QB. The team cutting pass rusher Bradley Chubb and wide receiver Tyreek Hill further telegraphed a complete reset.
Sullivan said at the NFL Scouting Combine on Feb. 24 that everything -- including a trade -- was on the table for Tagovailoa, but, in reality, his contract made such an ending unfeasible.
The 28-year-old signal-caller is instead free to find a new team. Much like an option available to Kyler Murray following his release and the course taken by Russell Wilson when the Denver Broncos castoff signed with the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2024, Tagovailoa could presumably latch on elsewhere for the veteran minimum in 2026 thanks to the $54 million he's already guaranteed.
Tagovailoa has endured one of the most roller-coaster starts to a career one can have.
He joined the Fins as the No. 5 overall pick in the 2020 draft and entered his rookie season as Ryan Fitzpatrick's backup. He eventually started nine games after leapfrogging the veteran on the depth chart by November, but failed to gain the full support of then-head coach Brian Flores and was benched in the fourth quarter of multiple games.
He threw for 4,467 yards, 27 touchdowns and 15 interceptions in 23 games over his first two seasons, both of which the Dolphins finished with a winning record yet failed to make the playoffs.
The switch from Flores to McDaniel in 2022 unlocked Tagovailoa and Miami's offense as a whole, leading to two consecutive playoff campaigns and peaking with a second-ranked Dolphins scoring offense in 2023. Tagovailoa led the NFL with 4,624 yards and made his lone Pro Bowl that season, after which he signed a four-year extension to become the league's fourth-highest-paid player. By the time of his release, his $53.1 million average salary .
Miami never ventured beyond the Wild Card Round in its pair of playoff trips, and the past two seasons following the extension have become defined by diminishing returns. The Dolphins finished in the bottom third in scoring in both 2024 and 2025 while missing the postseason. Injuries also continued to pile up for Tagovailoa -- most concerningly concussions.
He suffered two in 2022, then in 2024 spent four games on injured reserve after being concussed yet again. He missed the final two contests that same season due to a hip injury.
Although he stayed healthy for the 2025 campaign, his performance dipped. No longer airing it out as he did in his first year under McDaniel, when he enjoyed a league-leading 8.9 yards per attempt, his final season with the coach saw his yards per attempt crater to 6.9. He finished second in the league with 15 interceptions, possibly saved by his benching from leading the category.
Rather than trying to right the ship as Tagovailoa showed is possible during his previous coaching change, Hafley and Sullivan showed him the plank. They'll move forward with Quinn Ewers, who made Miami's final three starts last season. 2025 Raiders draft pick Cam Miller is the only other QB set to be on the roster, as 2021 first-rounder Zach Wilson is also a pending free agent. They'll surely bring in another candidate or two through free agency and/or the draft.
The $99.2 million in dead money to begin its time in Miami is a sizeable hurdle for the team's new regime. It's reminiscent of the Denver Broncos needing to dig out of Wilson's $85 dead money hit in 2024, although the silver lining in this case is that the Dolphins didn't have to go through a season with Tagovailoa as a lame duck like Denver did with Wilson during Sean Payton's first year there.
They can start the rebuild immediately, and with any luck find the same quick success the Broncos have.
As for Tagovailoa, he'll be a free agent with something to prove. He's fallen off the trajectory that resulted in his megadeal a couple years back and teams must also weigh his injury history, though the aforementioned possibility of signing him on the cheap could assuage many fears.
At his best, he's shown he can spin it with the top echelon of passers.
He'll set out to do the same again wherever he starts anew.
