A change is taking place in South Beach. The Miami Dolphins are releasing former first-round pick Tua Tagovailoa ahead of the new league year.
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The team informed Tagovailoa and confirmed this with a statement on Monday. He will be free to sign with any team in free agency, and he can do so for the league minimum. The Dolphins are on the hook for a lot of money as part of his massive, four-year, $212.4 million deal that includes more than $167 million guaranteed.
According to NFL insider Ian Rapoport, this is a post-June 1 designation. This means that Tagovailoa is no longer a member of the Dolphins now, but the team can use this strategy to break up the salary cap hit over multiple years.
The team will still take a $67 million hit this year. The remaining amount from the $99.2 million dead cap will come into play next season.
Photo credit: Getty Images
Tagovailoa started his NFL career as the fifth overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft. He joined the Dolphins and initially served as the backup behind Ryan Fitzpatrick on Brian Flores' team. He still started appeared in 23 combined games in 2020-2021 while throwing for 4,467 yards, 27 touchdowns and 15 interceptions.
The Dolphins parted ways with Flores after the 2021 season and brought in Mike McDaniel. This moved the team to an offensive mindset and set up the 2023 season in which Tagovailoa started all 17 games. He threw for a league-high 4,624 yards, 29 touchdowns, and 14 interceptions while earning Pro Bowl honors for the first time.
The last two seasons have seen Tagovailoa starting 25 total games. He has missed time each season for multiple reasons. In 2024, he spent time on Injured Reserve due to a concussion. Last season, the team benched him for the final three games.
"I recently informed Tua and his representation that we are going to move in a new direction at the quarterback position and will be releasing him after the start of the new league year," GM Jon-Eric Sullivan said in a statement.
"As I shared with Tua, I have great respect for the person and player he is. On behalf of the Miami Dolphins, I expressed our gratitude for his many contributions, both on the field and in the community, during his six seasons in Miami.
"As we move forward, we will be focused on infusing competition across the roster and establishing a strong foundation for this team as we work towards building a sustained winner."
