2024 was a rough season for the Miami Dolphins and Tua Tagovailoa. 2025 was much worse, especially for the quarterback. With questions surrounding his future, there is one question that seems to elude those who get to ask the questions.
Does Tagovailoa care about playing football anymore?
Throughout last season, fans listened to the QB give vague answers, laugh, and joke on the sidelines while being blown out. He threw teammates under the bus for not showing up to player-only meetings, and his pregame speeches left players looking to Jordyn Brooks for the pep talks. Something is off with the former NFL passing yards leader, and nobody seems to be questioning it.
Tua Tagovailoa is giving the wrong vibes to the rest of the NFL as his future with the Miami Dolphins sinks
It's not easy being an NFL QB, and I can't begin to imagine what is actually going through Tagovailoa's mind. We can all take a guess based on his mannerisms. The Dolphins $200 million mistake has made it clear he doesn't care what the outside noise is. In most cases, that's what you want from a QB, but for Tagovailoa, it hints at something different.
When questioned about his desire or his play, he says he doesn't listen to social media or mainstream media's talking heads. He had harsh words for Cam Newton's criticism and reminded everyone that even when the team loses, he gets to go home to his wife and daughter without a care in the world.
It's hard to watch Dolphins games. QBs are typically shown on the sideline, watching a tablet showing plays from the last series. Tagovailoa is rarely shown doing that, not to say he doesn't.
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2025 showed a different side of Tagovailoa. He was more flippant in his replies, less cautious with how he was perceived, and less caring about the perception of how he plays. He didn't care what the media thought, or the fans, or anyone else, for that matter. On game day, the fire that permeated through him in 2023 was gone. Not a glint, not a sparkle, just a whimper and an "Aww shucks" hand clap.
So what happened to the QB that once paraded in front of the Dolphins fans sitting at the training facility, jokingly giving his best imitation of Rod Tidwell while yelling, "Show me the money!" His contract extension completed, many now believe that he no longer cares because he got paid.
In a way, that's hard to argue against. Since his contract extension, he has regressed. The QB who was doing whatever he could to win in 2023 now seems to have been doing whatever he could to get paid.
Fair assessment? That doesn't matter; it's the optics, the visual, and it's the perception. To be fair, Tagovailoa has been hit hard with concussions. In 2024, he suffered another concussion. Late in the season, he missed time with a hip injury.
That injury is more significant than most may realize or believe. At the end of the 2024 season, Tagovailoa said the hip may never be 100%. In 2025, his throwing motion had changed, his footwork did as well, and suddenly, that hip injury looked like it could be a long-lasting problem.
Injuries aside, something doesn't seem to mentally gel with the QB he used to be and the QB he has regressed into. That is why the question of whether or not he wants to play anymore is important.
He has his money, he has his family, and as he made clear recently, it would be "dope" to have a "fresh start" somewhere other than Miami. Something he would be open to, but the logical thing to ask is, does he care enough to give more than himself for another team, and is there another team in the NFL that would believe him if he said yes?