Breaking Down Tua's Contract, Dolphins Salary Cap Hits Amid QB's Potential Benching

Miami Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel didn't rule out benching Tua Tagovailoa when asked about a potential quarterback change for Sunday's game agains the Cincinnati Bengals.

McDaniel told reporters that "the quarterback play last night was not good enough, and so, for me, everything's on the table":

Were Tagovailoa to get demoted, it could set the stage for what would be a costly offseason exit.

Per Spotrac, cutting the 2023 Pro Bowler would result in a dead money hit of $99.2 million. Designating him as a post-June 1 cut would at least spread that money across 2026 ($67.4 million) and 2027 ($31.8 million).

Trading Tagovailoa would be much more advantageous for Miami. In that scenario, the team would be on the hook for $45.2 million in 2026 and actually save $11.2 million in salary cap space.

It's tough to picture another team taking on the 27-year-old's contract when he's performing like he is, though.

That benching Tagovailoa is even on the table speaks to how poorly 2025 has unfolded for him. In 14 starts, he has thrown for 2,660 yards, 20 touchdowns and 15 interceptions.

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The further we get from 2023, when Tagovailoa led the NFL in passing yards, the more that season looks like an outlier. For the bulk of his NFL career, the southpaw has either battled injuries or failed to perform like an elite passer.

There's some risk in cutting bait when Baker Mayfield, Sam Darnold and Daniel Jones have all thrived after being cast aside. Jared Goff falls into that group as well since his stock had fallen a lot prior to his trade to the Detroit Lions in 2021.

Give Tagovailoa a change of scenery and maybe the same thing happens to him.

But both he and the Dolphins need a reset right now, and that might include a coaching change in the case of the latter. The nature of the 28-15 defeat to the Pittsburgh Steelers undid a lot of progress McDaniel made during a four-game winning streak.