The Tua Comment That Really Mattered

Is this anything to get worked up over? Like, is there anything in there that's not obvious? And didn't he say something simllar a couple of years ago (spoiler alert: he did)?

But this is how things are going with Tua these days, with a lot of folks just waiting to pounce of anything he does or says.

From this vantage point, his previous comment about the team's leadership issues and players being late to "player-led meetings" was a lot more problematic.

But if we're being honest, nothing was as problematic as two comments he made last year. And it wasn't so much was he said but what was involved.

"The market is the market."

"Show me the money."

THE TUA PROBLEM

No, Tagovailoa's performance isn't the sole or probably even the main reason the Dolphins find themselves in the. middle of a lost season and staring as an overhaul next year, but it's certainly a factor.

And what makes Tua's performance is the contract the Dolphins gave him in July of 2024 after his famous "The market is the market" comment a month earlier and led him to shout the famous movie quote in front of fans at a training camp practice.

The problem with the contract — often cited at four years, $212 million, but more precisely is a deal with $167 million guaranteed — is that it will tie the Dolphins' hands in 2026 as they almost inevitably will need to start ove.

The Dolphins have a 9-15 record since Tagovailoa got his new contract and it's undeniable that the quarterback's performance has regressed — a bit last year but noticeably this year — and maybe the time has come for a change at quarterback.

This is where Tua's contract makes that very difficult, if not impossible.

Tagovailoa has $54 million guaranteed in 2026, and that cap number won't come down even with a post-June 1 designation. The Dolphins' cap hit for Tua would go to $99 million with a normal offseason release, but still $67 million even with a post-June 1 designation.

That number would exceed what the Denver Broncos absorbed to get rid of Russell Wilson last year, which was $53 million of cap space in 2024 an additional $32 million in 2025.

The only way to drop Tua's cap number for 2026 is via trade, but it's tough to find a realistic scenario where any team would take on his $39 million guaranteed salary plus additional bonus money.

In fact, when talking about the Dolphins' possible scenarios regarding Tagovailoa in 2026, neither MMQB national writer Albert Breer nor CBS Sports cap expert Joel Corry even brought up the idea of a potential trade.

NOT TUA'S FAULT

This whole exercise isn't to blame Tua for his comments, but rather the Dolphins for agreeing that "The market is the market" and they needed to follow the lead of other teams that gave their quarterbacks "market" deals.

Remember that the Dolphins could have made Tua play on his fifth-year option and in retrospect that obviously would have been the right move.

But the Dolphins were all in on Tua after his 2023 Pro Bowl season and seemed to look past the obvious concerns with giving him a big-money deal, including the durability issues and the fact the Dolphins scored didn't reach 20 points in any of their final three games against high-end opponents in that otherwise memorable 2023 season.

The bottom line here is maybe more attention should have been paid and more criticism. applied to things like "The market is the market" as opposed to not being to see over offensive and defensive linemen.

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