Tua Tagovailoa Included a Really Sad Line in His Farewell Message to Dolphins

The Dolphins announced they were releasing Tua Tagovailoa on Monday with a post-June 1 designation, marking an expected end to the 28-year-old quarterback’s time in Miami.

Following yet another disappointing season in which the Dolphins missed the playoffs, Tagovailoa was unable to escape his inconsistent quarterback play and was benched by the end of the year. He bows out of Miami with a 44-32 record as starter, along with 120 touchdowns against 59 interceptions across six seasons.

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Tagovailoa’s tumultuous stint with the Dolphins led many fans to label him as a pick-prone, injury-prone quarterback who painfully played his way out of being the franchise starter. Despite perhaps some lingering ill will, the Dolphins’ fanbase may get just a tad emotional from Tagovailoa’s social media post bidding a bittersweet farewell to the only NFL franchise he’s ever known.

Tagovailoa thanked everyone in the Dolphins organization from his teammates and coaches to the front office and other staffers, and he included a particularly tender note to the fans.

“To the fans—your energy, loyalty, and passion meant everything. You lifted me up in the biggest moments and stood by me through the challenging ones,” Tagovaila wrote. “From my first start I had, to the first touchdown I threw I’m grateful for all of it.”

He then added a heartbreaking line:

“I also carry deep regret that I couldn’t get the job done and bring a championship home to this city. Miami deserves that, and I’ll always wish I could have delivered it for you.”

Respect to Tua.

His career in Miami may not have panned out as well as he would’ve wanted, but he never stopped fighting even when he was plagued by concussions and injuries. Tagovailoa played in just one playoff game with the Dolphins, a wild-card playoff round matchup against the Chiefs; Miami ended up losing pretty badly in the 26-7 rout. Across six frustrating years, the Dolphins never once topped the AFC East, and their high hopes for the promising Mike McDaniel era fizzled out in 2025, as Miami parted ways with McDaniel and then-GM Chris Grier at the end of the season amid a drastic franchise renovation.

In truth, Tagovailoa, a former first-round pick in 2020, didn’t end up bringing much success to the Dolphins organization, and ten or 15 years down the line will likely fade into history as yet another failed quarterback experiment. On Monday, ahead of the start of the new league year, though, he chose to say goodbye to Miami with a very classy message—hopefully, that small part will be remembered.

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