NFL Insider Shares What Dolphins Would Prefer to Do With Tua Tagovailoa Next Season

Tagovailoa was benched in favor of Quinn Ewers for the rest of the 2025 season, putting his future in Miami in limbo.

The Dolphins could look to trade quarterback Tua Tagovailoa this offseason. / Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images

The Dolphins chose to bench Tua Tagovailoa for the rest of the 2025 season in favor of rookie quarterback Quinn Ewers, who will make his first career start Sunday vs. the Bengals.

This decision opened up the possibility of Miami trading their $200 million-plus quarterback this offseason. And, based on what NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport’s been hearing, that seems like the most likely option at this point.

The tricky part of trading Tagovailoa is his contract. He is guaranteed $54 million next year, but cutting him this offseason would set up a $99.2 million dead cap hit ($67.4 million of dead money in 2026, then $31.8 million in 2027) over the next two seasons, which would be an NFL record over the Broncos’ $85 million release of Russell Wilson two years ago.

However, Rapoport said trading Tagovailoa is the “preferred outcome for the Dolphins” if they elect to move on from Tagovailoa. This option sets Miami up for eating just a portion of the salary instead of his entire salary.

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There are a few NFL teams in need of a new starting quarterback in 2026, such as the Cardinals, Colts, Raiders and Vikings, as laid out here.

Tagovailoa hasn’t really commented on the possibility of departing Miami in the coming months. He kept it short and sweet by saying that decision was out of his control, which he’s right about.

There’s more factors in play than just the money when it comes to trading a quarterback a team put a lot of time, money and faith in. The next couple months will be very telling based on what the Dolphins ultimately choose to do about their QB1 position.

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