Tua Tagovailoa calls the idea of a fresh start ‘dope’

A winter of change is coming to South Beach.

After missing out on the playoffs for the second consecutive season, changes appear in the air around the Miami Dolphins. The team already fired general manager Chris Grier in the middle of the season, and speculation is building around the fate of head coach Mike McDaniel. The young head coach may have saved his job over the second half of the season, as the Dolphins finished 7-10 after a 2-7 start.

Then there is the future of quarterback Tua Tagovailoa.

After a 28-15 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 15, McDaniel opened the door to a change at quarterback. Following that defeat, McDaniel said in a press conference that the passing game was not up to the “standard” he has for the Miami offense. While McDaniel did not put the blame solely on Tagovailoa, it was clear he expected more from the quarterback.

“I think there’s multiple things at play,” McDaniel said of offense after the loss to Pittsburgh. “I think ultimately everybody has to do better. You have to coach better. I think passing, a lot of times people squarely put focus on the quarterback. I think there’s several times tonight, one in particular stands out, where I think he was about to make the right read, and we had our eligible fall over. It’s been a multitude of things, the way I look at it. It has to be better for us to be able to win games when you’re not owning time of possession or controlling the game on the ground. That limits you a ton. It’s not up to standard.”

The next day, Miami confirmed that the team was turning to Quinn Ewers, who started the rest of Miami’s games.

That has led to speculation about Tagovailoa’s future, and speaking with reporters today, he called seemed to lean into the idea of a start somewhere else:

This follows reporting that Tagovailoa is considered “unlikely” to play for Miami again.

Of course, there are significant financial hurdles were Miami to move on from Tagovailoa. The Dolphins are on the hook for a combined $106 million over the course of the 2025 and 2026 seasons. If Miami were to cut Tagovailoa with a pre-June 1 designation, it would come at the cost of $99 million in dead money. Cutting him with a post-June 1 designation eases the burden somewhat, dropping that number to $67 million in dead money.

Even if Miami moves Tagovailoa via a trade, there would still be costs associated with such a move. Jason Fitzgerald at Over the Cap looked at all the possible scenarios for the Dolphins when it comes to moving on from the quarterback, and none of them are pretty.

What could work in his — and Miami’s — favor is the overall quarterback market. While we are still waiting on what quarterbacks enter the draft Fernando Mendoza and Dante Moore are considered the two most likely first-round picks. However, both have eligibility remaining and Moore in particular may look at another year in college.

Beyond those two, Ty Simpson and Trinidad Chambliss are other options, but Simpson’s play faded down the stretch and Chambliss has already applied for an NCAA medical redshirt, seeking another year of eligibility. There is every believe that Chambliss will look to stay at Ole Miss for one more year, or perhaps follow Lane Kiffin to LSU.

With several teams at the top of the draft looking to improve their quarterback room, there might be a team that views Tagovailoa as a one-year reclamation project, similar to Daniel Jones, and if it does not work out then the 2027 NFL Draft class offers another chance to add a QB.

However, the price teams pay in such situations, even given the overall quarterback market, is typically not too high.

Even if Tagovailoa would consider it ‘dope.’