Miami Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel announced on Wednesday that the team will be moving away from its once-franchise quarterback, Tua Tagovailoa. The writing was already on the wall, but with that announcement, it was official. The Tua-era in Miami is over. This decision will not just impact the team for the final three weeks of the 2025 season, but for years to come.
The guarantees worked into Tavovailoa's 2024 extension extend into 2026 (and beyond). That 2026 guarantee? $54 million in cash in the form of a $15 million prorated option bonus and a $39 million base salary - not to mention another $750 thousand in per-game roster bonuses and a $250 thousand workout bonus.
There are scant few mechanisms for the Dolphins to get rid of these cash commitments and the cap hits that come with them. But let's explore each scenario from the least to most likely.
Miami Dolphins have many ways to handle Tua Tagovailoa's contract, but none are pleasant
Dolphins Cut Tua (Pre 6/1)
You can file this option in the trash. The idea is great in theory. Do a straight cut of Tua on the 1st day of the offseason. This would save the team from a $3 million cash payout in 2027 that is set to become guaranteed on the third day of the 2026 league year.
If the Dolphins can save money, why not take this course of action? Their salary cap position makes it near-impossible. Such a move would accelerate $43.8 million in dead cap hits in future years. Those would only be offset by just $1 million in non-guaranteed money in 2026 to increase his cap hit from $56.4 million to an absurd $99.2 million.
As things currently stand, and assuming a $305 million salary cap in 2026, the Dolphins are poised to be $3.9 million over the cap with just 38 players under contract next year. Adding in the projected cap space for their draft picks, filling the roster, and having in-season funds to operate, they will need to open up at least $34 million just to do the bare minimum in the offseason. Did I mention all of this is before any decision on Tua is made?
Putting another $44 million cap burden on the club is impossible. Restructuring literally every over contract on their books would not give the team enough room to palate a cold-turkey separation from their once-promising signal caller.
Dolphins Keep Tua for 2026
This may seem like a far-fetched idea, considering they are now publicly stating through his benching that they no longer believe Tua is the quarterback they can win with long-term. However, this option may still be on the table for the Dolphins.
Considering his salary is fully guaranteed, they may opt not to hurt their 2026 cap situation further and just have him as the league's most expensive backup. This is not an unheard-of situation. The Falcons went this route just this year with Kirk Cousins.
In this scenario, the Dolphins cut Tua pre-June 1st in 2027 and save $6.6 million on that year's cap, with no other dead cap ramifications beyond that. For those of you following along on Over The Cap, you may say, "No, Josh. They will save $21.6 million." Well, that's not quite the case. Over The Cap does not account for the option bonus in 2026 being exercised or the $3 million 2027 salary guarantee in 2027 that this scenario would trigger on their 2027 actions table. That's an additional $15 million.
Dolphins Trade Tua Post-June 1st
This seems completely unworkable, right? Believe it or not, it is! But there are multiple moving parts. First off, no one is going to trade for Tua's $54 million cash guarantee - not to mention the additional $3 million for 2027 that triggers on the 3rd day of the 2026 league year. But if Miami were willing to eat a large portion of the 2026 cash flow, they could find a taker in a quarterback market that looks relatively bare right now.
Hypothetically, a team in need of a capable bridge for 2026 might see Tua as just that. And for $15 million all-in ($12 million in 2026 salary plus the $3 million in 2027), they may be willing to give up a late-day three pick to take the former first-round pick off the Dolphins' hands. How would this work?
Any trade would have to be after June 1st for Miami to keep future dead cap hits out of 2026. The Dolphins would convert $27 million of his $39 million base salary into a prorated bonus. Then the acquiring team would be able to trade for him for a $12 million 2026 cash/cap hit and a $3million guarantee in 2027. Theoretically, if things went fantastically in his new home, they could keep the rest of Tua's deal intact with team control through 2028.
On Miami's side, they would clear $34.6 million in salary cap savings for 2026. But in 2027, they would have a dead cap hit of $65 million. They would also receive a (low-value) draft pick in the deal.
Dolphins Cut Tua Post-June 1st
Here we have a possible solution that will sting for two years. Miami could hold off its future dead cap hits (2027 and beyond) with a post-June 1st designation and take a bath on 2026. Tua's 2026 cap hit would increase by $11 million to $67.4 million. They would have an additional dead cap charge of $31.4 million to absorb in 2027 before they would be free of Tagovailoa.
This option is palatable. The team could make specific cuts/restructures to account for the room they need to operate a pivot into a new era of Dolphins football that includes minor moves in free agency for that next iteration.
All Options Are Bad
I'm not trying to sugarcoat this. There is literally no good option from Miami's perspective. Every viable option requires a two-year reset to be done with a contract that was suspect from the beginning. Still, it seems highly likely that one of these scenarios will be how they manage the mess that his contract has become.