MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa is open to a “fresh start,” he told reporters Monday, after he was benched for the team’s final three games of the season.
Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel benched Tagovailoa for rookie Quinn Ewers after the team’s loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 15, saying the seventh-round pick gave Miami the best chance to win.
Tagovailoa spent the remaining three games as the team’s inactive emergency third quarterback. Speaking after McDaniel’s decision on Dec. 17, Tagovailoa said that he was “disappointed” but that the decision was out of his control. He also declined to comment on whether he had played his final game for the Dolphins.
His tone shifted during the team’s locker room cleanout Monday, when asked whether he’d like a fresh start after the events of this season.
“That would be dope,” he said. “I would be good with it.”
McDaniel said Monday there will be a quarterback competition in 2026 and didn’t close the door on Ewers starting next season.
McDaniel declined to speculate on what led to Tagovailoa’s decline this season but said he will meet with the quarterback early Tuesday to discuss the season and how they would like to move forward.
“I think there’s a lot on the plate of a franchise quarterback, and ultimately I think it’s my job to try to improve his play all of the time,” he said. “I don’t want to throw out a headline that is shortsighted or shortchanges how many layers there are to performing at the quarterback position. What I do know is, for the first time, I assessed whether or not he should be the starting quarterback on the team. That was as a result of an inability to get some things done.
“Does that mean that’s a forever thing for him in terms of being able to execute stuff that he’s executed in the past? No, it doesn’t. To have his game and the ownership of his game when it’s at its height, that’s something that we’ll discuss. He’ll have a lot of thoughts, and he’ll have to work to get himself back to where we’re all used to seeing. And I’ll do my best in supporting that and the rest we shall see.”
Tagovailoa signed a four-year, $212.1 million extension in July 2024, the richest contract in franchise history. But after missing a career-high six games in 2024 to hip and head injuries, he turned in a down season in 2025 before losing his job to Ewers.
He threw for 2,660 yards and 20 touchdowns against a career-high 15 interceptions and recorded fewer than 200 passing yards eight times this season, after having done so only six times in his three previous seasons with McDaniel combined.
Moving on from Tagovailoa will be expensive for Miami. He represents a $56.4 million cap hit in 2026, and cutting him before June 1 would result in a $99.2 million dead cap hit next season. Releasing him after June 1 would spread that dead cap hit across two seasons, with $67.2 million hitting in 2026.
The Dolphins could also look to trade the NFL’s 2023 leader in passing yards but would have to find a team willing to take on his salary.
If he has indeed played his final snap for the Dolphins, Tagovailoa will leave as the franchise’s fourth-leading passer with 18,166 yards and 120 touchdowns. He would also finish his time in Miami as the Dolphins’ career leader in completion percentage among qualified passers at 68%.
