Terron Armstead's Strong Comments About the Tua Benching

Miami Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel’s decision to bench quarterback Tua Tagovailoa may impact much more than the final three games of the 2025 regular season. 

Former Dolphins left tackle Terron Armstead, who spent three years blocking for Tagovailoa before retiring at the end of last season, recorded an emergency Friday morning episode of his podcast, “The Set With T. Stead,” to share his unique perspective on the franchise-altering move.

“I understand the frustrations from McDaniel and from the Miami Dolphins organization,” Armstead said. “The frustrations from Tua himself with his performances compared to what we've seen from him in the past. The move to bench Tua following the Monday night game against the Pittsburgh Steelers isn't surprising to me. It's unfortunate. 

“It's disappointing that it has come to this point, but knowing Tua personally, knowing the competitor and worker that he is, knowing how much he loves and cares for the game and for his teammates. For it to get to this point, it hurts. It hurts to see. This is not something I would have ever predicted to have happened in this 2025 season.”

Miami reached the playoffs back-to-back seasons after Armstead arrived as a free agent in the 2022 offseason. While the Dolphins finished short of the ultimate goal of winning a playoff game, Tagovailoa led the league in passer rating in 2022, passing yards in 2023, and completion percentage in 2024.

This season, Tagovailoa currently ranks 17th in passing yards and 23rd in passer rating, but also leads the league with 15 interceptions through 14 games.

“It's puzzling because we've seen Tua play at a really high level,” Armstead said. “We've seen him [have a] 100 quarterback rating. We've seen him lead the league in passing yards. We've seen him run the No. 1 offense in the NFL. And this year, in his totality, was a bad year. We've all had bad years, years that didn't align with others. Me, 2021 was my down year.

“He's not the fastest, he's not the biggest, he's not the most agile quarterback. We know that, but in those three areas, decision-making, precision, accuracy, that's where you can line him up against anybody on planet Earth. Those three areas have not been his strength consistently this year. We've seen some timing and precision, and we've seen him make decisions that put the ball in jeopardy, put the team in jeopardy, and ultimately led to this decision from Mike McDaniel.”

While Armstead said he understood why McDaniel benched Tagovailoa, he doesn’t believe the 28-15 loss in Pittsburgh was his final start for the Dolphins. 

Tua’s Team in 2026?

Tagovailoa’s lack of success, combined with the decision to start rookie Quinn Ewers, could be a signal that the franchise is planning to move on from the quarterback after six seasons.

But Armstead believes Tagovailoa will remain the starter in 2026. 

“So for me, how I see this situation is Quinn Ewers is coming in as a starting quarterback because he is the unknown on the roster — he's the one we haven't seen,” Armstead said. “Quinn is going out here these last three games to see what he has for the Dolphins. Can he be that security blanket in the quarterback room as the backup, or a guy that can compete for a starting job in the future?

“This is not an audition for the starting job. Week one kickoff next year, Tua Tagovailoa is the starting quarterback.” 

Armstead mentioned that he hasn’t talked to Tagovailoa much this season, but added some more detail to his perspective on X: “Starting QBs aren’t falling from the sky, and you have to consider the financial implications!”