Dolphins Don't Really Have a Choice at Quarterback

Examining the Miami Dolphins' predicament with Tua Tagovailoa the rest of the 2025 season and heading into next season.

Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker Payton Wilson (41) sacks Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa (1) in the third quarter at Acrisure Stadium. | Barry Reeger-Imagn Images

Have we seen Tua Tagovailoa take his last snap as a Miami Dolphins quarterback?

That’s the big-picture question after Mike McDaniel’s comments the day after Tua’s sub-par performance — forget about his final passer rating, the result of some stat-padding after the outcome had been decided — because the Dolphins already are done for the 2025 season, and who starts the final three games won’t change that one way or the other.

At this time, the only reason it’s not a slam dunk that the Dolphins will move on from Tagovailoa in the offseason is his contract, that massive contract that keeps looking worse with each passing day, the contract that has made the phrases “the market is the market” and “show me the money” painful for the team’s fans.

The Dolphins are going to have to swallow hard and be willing to make a significant financial sacrifice if they want to move on from Tua and start fresh at quarterback in 2026.

And based on what we’ve seen over the past month-plus, it may be that the team doesn’t have a choice.

That’s how much Tagovailoa’s play has regressed.

We can discuss and debate the reasons for a while, including a potential cumulative effect on his injuries on his body, a lack of trust in his offensive line and receivers and a deterioration of his mechanics, among other things.

What’s undeniable is the performance simply isn’t good enough.

TUA A NON-FACTOR DURING STREAK

The Dolphins put together their four-game winning streak with Tua at quarterback, and maybe more despite Tua than because of Tua.

In those four wins, Tagovailoa never reached 200 passing yards in any game, with an average of 157 yards against the Buffalo Bills, Washington Commanders, New Orleans Saints and New York Jets.

In those games, he had three touchdown passes and three interceptions.

Do the Dolphins really need to be having a $50 million quarterback to put up those numbers?

We said all along there would come a time when the running game wouldn’t churn out 160 yards and/or the defense wouldn’t come up with two or three takeaways, and the passing game would have to do more of the heavy lifting for the team to have success.

The passing game couldn’t handle the assignment against the Steelers on Monday night, and the result was the Dolphins being down 28-3 early in the fourth quarter before Pittsburgh began playing really soft coverage and more or less giving Miami easy completions as long as the clock kept running.

To be fair, not all the issues in the passing game are Tua’s fault because the offensive line had issues picking up blitzes too often against the Steelers, and the receivers aren’t always getting open.

TUA'S LIMITATIONS

But this exposes the shortcomings of having Tagovailoa at quarterback.

He won’t produce if he doesn’t get help around him to a degree higher than other quarterbacks.

That’s, of course, a product of who he is as a quarterback right now, somebody who can succeed if his receivers get open quickly but will not make anything happen — or rarely — if the play breaks down.

That’s not even mentioning scrambling, which we’ve seen basically is nonexistent right now because Tagovailoa invariably slides short of the first-down marker to protect himself.

It's understandable given his concussion issues, but it also limits the ways he can help the offense.

When the Dolphins had Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle operating at full capacity and getting open on a regular basis, having a quarterback who’s pretty much just a passer was acceptable.

But this is not where the Dolphins are anymore, and besides, that formula also didn’t get them where they wanted to go.

The sad reality is that the Dolphins would have fared just as well against the Steelers' defense — and maybe even better — with either Zach Wilson or Quinn Ewers at quarterback.

It wasn’t that long ago that this notion would have been preposterous , but this is where things stand right now.

And it’s gone on long enough that we may have reached the point where we need to accept it’s not going to get better.

And that leads us to 2026.

What sign is there that things would be any better next season with Tagovailoa at quarterback?

The Dolphins probably would jump at the opportunity to trade him in the offseason, even if that still would entail some kind of cap pain, but it’s probably fantasy land to think another team would want to acquire a quarterback that would cost them upwards of $40 million when his career trajectory is headed in the wrong direction.

There’s also the idea of keeping Tagovailoa as the backup for 2026 before moving on the following offseason, but it could make for a strange dynamic, and then would Mike McDaniel — assuming he’s back as head coach — be tempted to turn to him the moment his new quarterback struggles?

The thought of what McDaniel could do with his scheme with a different kind of quarterback, one who could contribute with his legs as well as his arm, definitely is intriguing.

And maybe we get a small glimpse of that in the final three games this season if McDaniel indeed turns to Wilson or Ewers.

Regardless, the mere fact that McDaniel, who two years ago pounded the table for Tua to get his big contract extension, would raise the possibility of a quarterback change was very telling — particularly since McDaniel made it a point that the decision is about who gives the team the best chance to win.

If McDaniel decides to stick with Tua, what he’ll have done is put him on notice.

But the feeling is that a change is coming.

The question is whether it will be permanent, at least in terms of Tua being removed as the starting quarterback.

The Dolphins might not even have a chance right now or next season.