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marcel louis-jacques
Miami Gardens, Florida — dolphin quarterback tua tagovailoa He was ready for a “fresh start”, he told reporters on Monday after being left out of the team for the final three games of the season.
Dolphins coach Mike McDaniels benches Tagovailoa for rookie season quinn evers after the team’s defeat pittsburgh steelers In Week 15, stating that 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 December 17, Tagovailoa said he was “disappointed” but that the decision was out of his control. He also declined to comment on whether he played his final game for the Dolphins.
His tone changed during the team’s locker room cleanout on Monday, when he was asked if he would like a fresh start after the events of this season.
“That would be dope,” He said“I’d love to,”
McDaniel said Monday there will be a quarterback competition in 2026 and didn’t close the door on Ewers starting next season.
McDaniels declined to speculate on what has caused Tagovailoa’s decline this season, but said he will meet with the quarterback as early as Tuesday to discuss the season and how he wants to move forward.
“I think there’s a lot that goes on for a franchise quarterback and ultimately I think it’s my job to try to improve his game all the time,” he said. “I don’t want to give a headline that was short-sighted or lacking in how many layers there are to perform at the quarterback position. What I do know is that for the first time, I assessed whether or not he should be the starting quarterback on the team. It was a result of his inability to do certain things.
“Does that mean it’s a matter of him ever being able to execute what he’s executed in the past? No, it’s not. To keep his game and his ownership of his game at its peak, that’s something we’ll discuss. He’s going to have a lot of ideas, and he’s going to have to work on getting himself back to where we’re all used to seeing. And I’ll do my best to support that and we’ll see the rest.”
Tagovailoa signed a four-year, $212.1 million extension through July 2024, the richest contract in franchise history. But after missing a career-high six games in 2024 due to hip and head injuries, he had a poor season in 2025 before losing his job to Evers.
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, compared to only six times in his previous three seasons with McDaniel.
Moving on from Tagovailoa would be costly for Miami. He represents a cap hit of $56.4 million in 2026, and cutting him before June 1 would result in a dead cap hit of $99.2 million next season. Releasing him after June 1 would spread the dead cap hit over two seasons, with a $67.2 million hit in 2026.
The Dolphins could also consider trading the NFL’s 2023 leader in passing yards, but they would have to find a team willing to take on his salary.
If he does indeed play 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 finish his time in Miami as the Dolphins’ career leader in completion percentage among qualified passers at 68%.
