Tua Tagovailoa deserves Russell Wilson special after Dolphins' MNF debacle

The Miami Dolphins unraveled in prime time yet again in their 28-15 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Week 15's episode of Monday Night Football. What promised to be must-see TV turned into a dud of a performance that should mark the end of Tua Tagovailoa's tenure as Miami's franchise quarterback.

But how is it possible to move off Tua? He's only in the first year of his mega contract, which is valued at a total of $212.4 million. Well, what the Denver Broncos did once upon a time with Russell Wilson serves as the ideal blueprint for Miami to pull the escape hatch to a thriving new era.

Sure, it's not a perfect one-to-one between what was with Mr. Unlimited in Denver and what is with Tua and the Fins in present day. The key here is, if Miami has the will, there's definitely a way.

How Miami Dolphins can move off Tua Tagovailoa, Russell Wilson style, without ruining the 2026 season

While sketching out the idea for this concept, I stumbled upon a classic case of "great minds think alike" serendipity.

ESPN's Benjamin Solak wrote the following passage in his Week 15 deep dive. This excerpt specifies how the Dolphins can pave the way for Tua's imminent exit:

"To cut Tagovailoa outright before the league year began would cost the Dolphins more than $99 million in dead cap, which would obviously never happen. With a post-June 1 designation and by picking up his 2026 option right before cutting him, the Dolphins could get Tagovailoa's dead cap hit in 2026 down to about $54 million. That's functionally the same as Tagovailoa's cap hit ($56 million) if he remains on the roster."

Owner Stephen Ross will need to swallow some pride to get this done. The good news is, he's the seventh-richest owner in the NFL, with an estimated $17 billion net worth. All the money Ross would have to eat to move off Tua wouldn't be dissimilar to how the Broncos' Walton family had little issue re: the dead money cost of cutting Wilson.

Look at the Broncos now. They have the NFL's best record at 12-2 because they rebooted. Miami must do the same.

Whatever magic Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel conjured to elevate Tua's game is gone. The results just aren't good enough to justify keeping him under center at such a prohibitive cost.

Whether it's Tua playing more cautiously due to his unsettling concussion history, or just a flat-out regression in confidence/performance, he's too much of an all-around liability for the Dolphins to keep building their team around.

Can the Dolphins actually make Tua Tagovailoa's abrupt release work under the salary cap?

The short answer is "yes." Let's get into it real quick before discussing bridge QB options.

If you spam OverTheCap.com like me, you might visit the Dolphins' page and wonder how they can get this done from a salary cap perspective.

Here are the steps and cost-saving maneuvers before Tua's post-June 1 release erases about $11 million in cap room:

• Release or trade Tyreek Hill pre-June 1 — $23.65 million in savings
• Contract restructures for Minkah Fitzpatrick, Bradley Chubb, Austin Jackson, and Jordyn Brooks (several more are possible) — ~$33 million in savings
• Dolphins 2026 salary cap space pre/post-Tua cut: $48.4 million/$37.4 million

Oh, and although Miami has a lot of pending free agents, there aren't a lot of must-keep players from that group.

With Tua's contract off the books and all those moves executed, the Fins would have $126.8 million in 2027 cap space to play with.

Dolphins' bridge QB options if Dolphins pull a Russell Wilson on Tua Tagovailoa

Rolling the dice on a younger QB with upside would make some sense for Miami. However, the Fins' QB room already has a couple of those types of guys in past No. 2 overall pick Zach Wilson and one of the most ballyhooed high school recruits of all-time in Quinn Ewers. Assuming Wilson re-signs in free agency, that's a decent-enough 1-2 punch to make way for a more experienced, productive field general.

Going the veteran stopgap route is sensible for what Miami needs right now. Seeing what a supreme athlete like Kyler Murray, Joe Milton, Anthony Richardson, or even Jalen Milroe could do as a new wrinkle to McDaniel's run scheme is tantalizing to ponder. But the Dolphins are dynamic and multiple enough in that area that they just need a reliable game manager to operate the offense.

That has me landing on a few primary candidates: Marcus Mariota, Kirk Cousins, and Jarrett Stidham.

I stumped for Mariota as Miami's QB1 in 2026 before the Madrid game. Mariota did throw an interception in overtime to set up the Dolphins' victory, but overall, he's played quite well for Washington in relief of Jayden Daniels amid the Commanders' nightmare 2025 campaign. Mariota's plus dual-threat playmaking ability serves as another strong selling point.

Speaking of Washington, that's where Cousins began his career, where McDaniel was a member of a superstar offensive staff top-lined by Kyle Shanahan. Captain Kirk has only recently returned to starting duties for the Falcons after Michael Penix Jr. tore his ACL (again).

Cousins probably feels a certain way about how the whole situation in Atlanta has gone down. Penix should be back in time for the start of next season if his recovery goes well. Keeping Cousins in the picture just complicates everything more for the Falcons and their future plans.

A clean break from Atlanta — preferably a release, rather than a trade that'd force Miami to take on the rest of his contract — and a starting opportunity are just what Cousins needs. It'd be the ideal one-year bridge scenario for himself and the Dolphins. He's still got it, too. The man just cooked the NFC South-leading Bucs on Thursday Night Football.

How poetic and beautifully strange would it be, though, if Stidham — who mopped up the final two games of Wilson's tenure in Denver — was the man to then replace Tagovailoa years later?

Stidham has bided his time with the AFC's No. 1-seeded Broncos in the ensuing years. He actually makes more money than the current starter, Bo Nix. Multiple years in Sean Payton's uber-complex system could only help his development.

Plus, there's a familiarity factor between Stidham and Zach Wilson from their shared 2024 season in the Mile High City. That would only help the former's transition to Miami.