Lack of Foresight Got Dolphins to this Point

The Tua Tagovailoa benching is the latest symptom of a major problem afflicting the Miami Dolphins

Miami Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill (10) celebrates his touchdown scored against the Los Angeles Chargers with quarterback Tua Tagovailoa (1) during the first half at SoFi Stadium. | Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images

The Miami Dolphins might be stuck with quarterback Tua Tagovailoa in 2026 even if they want to move on from him.

Just like they pretty much were with Tyreek Hill in 2025.

Much like they were forced to eat $15 million of cap in 2025 with another $20.8 million next year because they so badly wanted to get rid of Jalen Ramsey.

Those are the highlights — really, they're lowlights — of the massive shopping spree of 2024 when Stephen Ross played the role of Oprah with "You get a new contract, you get a new contract ..."

This was the year when Tua got his big contract extension, Jaylen Waddle got a contract extension, head coach Mike McDaniel got a contract extension despite having two years left on his contract, Ramsey got a second extension in 18 months with the franchise, and Hill got his contract restructured even though it had a couple of years left on it.

Talk about not getting your money's worth.

We suggested after the 2024 season that Ross might have been having buyer's remorse at that time, imagine what he must be thinking now.

What's worse than buyer's remorse? Buyer's regret? Buyer's repulsion?

It's been that bad.

The two seasons following the contract spree will produce zero playoff appearances and an immediate future that can be described as grim at worst and uncertain at best.

And look at the five people who got the bag from Ross.

Tagovailoa just got benched and it's probably no better than 50-50 the Dolphins even will bring him back next season.

Ramsey already is in Pittsburgh after a true mutual parting of the ways.

That Hill has spent most of the 2025 season on IR is bad luck, but he probably wouldn't have been on the roster at all if not for the extra guarantees the Dolphins gave him last year when they absolutely didn't need to do it.

McDaniel's job status is in question just as his extension is about to kick in next year.

The only move, really, that hasn't backfired was the extension given to Waddle.

That's a really poor batting average, though.

HOW THE DOLPHINS GOT INTO THIS MESS

This was self-destruction at its finest (or its worst, depending on how you want to phrase it).

The Dolphins went for it big time in 2022 and 2023 when they made the trades for Hill, Bradley Chubb and Ramsey and signed big-name free agents like Terron Armstead, to name just one, and the strategy did produce something.

It produced the first back-to-back playoff appearances for the franchise in 20 years and an 11-win season in 2023 that was the Dolphins' first with Ross as owner.

But this never was a recipe for long-term success because the salary cap only allows you to pay a lot of players a lot of money for so long.

The real problem is the Dolphins saw the 2023 season as the start of something bigger rather than what it really was, a high mark.

Maybe Ross and those advising him were blinded by the 11 wins, or the 70-point outburst against Denver, or maybe the idea this was a team that could win the Super Bowl if only it could avoid the injury rash that derailed the team late in the season.

What also should have been obvious was that, injuries or not, that 2023 team never showed a consistent ability to beat good teams. There was one win that entire season against a team with a winning record, the 22-20 squeaker against the Dallas Cowboys at Hard Rock Stadium on Christmas Eve.

But in the other six games against winning teams, including the playoff game at Kansas City, the Dolphins came up short.

That should have been reason for pause.

At the very least, it should have been reason enough to not go crazy with the contracts, particularly when they weren't necessary.

The Ramsey and Hill contracts spoke for themselves, and with Tua, the Dolphins had the option of having him play on the fifth-year option and then using the franchise tag once or twice if the performance moving forward, starting in 2024, would have warranted staying with him at quarterback.

Instead, the Dolphins made all those commitments, and those came at a cost.

The Dolphins already have begun paying for those, and they'll do it again next year if they do decide it's time to move on from Tua.