Examining Armstead's Case for Keeping Tua, and a Possible Hint?

While it’s looking more and more like the Miami Dolphins will be releasing quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, Terron Armstead believes the franchise should keep him on the roster if unable to find a trade partner during the offseason.

Armstead, a five-time Pro Bowl left tackle who started 38 games over three seasons for the Dolphins, explained on a live stream Monday night that keeping Tagovailoa would mean avoiding a dead cap hit of nearly $100 million for a player who’s not in the building.

“If the Dolphins don’t have a trade partner, a legitimate trade partner for Tua, they should keep him,” Armstead said. “If you release Tua, Adam Schefter reported, you will be looking at roughly $99 million of dead money.

“If you keep Tua on the roster, allow him to compete, to work on his game, to push whoever you bring in. Malik Willis, a draft pick, or Quinn Ewers — it’s competition. Create that competition. Create that environment.”

If released, the Dolphins could push $32 million of Tagovailoa’s dead cap hit to 2027 by designating him as a post-June 1 cut, but Armstead’s reasoning isn’t strictly financial. He believes that, along with creating competition in the quarterback room, Tagovailoa’s trade value may improve once the season begins.

“You’re [already] taking the hit of $50-plus million, and it’s not just the money,” Armstead said. “Tua didn’t play well last year, and he has injury concerns, so the leverage for the Dolphins in trade value is down.”

“Now that can change. The only way that changes is in the fire, in the middle of [the season].”

Armstead explained that injuries happen at any time, and a desperate team could call about trading for Tagovailoa early in the season. He used late-season injuries to Daniel Jones and Bo Nix as examples, but also noted that both occurred after the trade deadline.

"If you release Tua, you have the dead money and the cap hit," Armstead said. "If you hold on to him and an unfortunate injury happens early in the year, that Tua trade is significant then because these teams have championship aspirations. If you're telling me that if the Colts had a chance to pick between 44-year-old Philip Rivers and Tua Tagovailoa, who was struggling at that time last year, c'mon, man.

"The man just turned 28, and we've seen quarterbacks not hit their stride until 30. He's shown some already before 30, and not advocating for Tua to be the starting guy ... but if you have to have the financial hit for a guy, it's really tough seeing that number against the cap for a player who is not in the building, so you hold on to the player for potential leverage — even though that might not happen."

Dolphins Silent on Tua’s Birthday

While the Dolphins celebrated the birthdays of soon-to-be unrestricted free agents like Daniel Brunskill and Willie Gay Jr. earlier this offseason, the franchise’s social media accounts were silent as Tagovailoa celebrated his 28th birthday on Monday.

At the combine, general manager Jon-Eric Sullivan said that “everything is on the table” regarding Tagovailoa’s future. However, ESPN’s Dan Graziano shared Sunday that the expectation is that Miami will cut Tagovailoa with a post-June 1 designation.

It may mean nothing, but the absence of a birthday post for a $54 million quarterback could also be interpreted as a sign of what’s ahead for Tagovailoa and the Dolphins.