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Tua isn’t HIM…in Fact, It’s Time to Move On

Originally posted on Dolphins Talk | By Mike Oliva | Last updated Sep 14, 2025 8:30 PM ET

Tua isn’t HIM…in Fact, It’s Time to Move On

I know the title of this article will probably upset half of the Dolphins fan base, but I don’t care.

Tua Tagovailoa is going into year 6; he “got the bag,” as kids say, and got the big payday and life-changing money.

But he hasn’t lived up to that pay day at all.

In fact, he is regressing as a player and getting worse.

For three quarters on Sunday vs the Patriots, Tua was playing fine.

Nothing extraordinary, but not awful.

He had the offense moving the ball, scoring points, and in the game.

Then the 4th quarter happened, and it was a disaster.

And when you decide to pay a quarterback $212.4 million over four years with $167 million fully guaranteed, you need said quarterback to come up big in crunch time.

To be clutch.

Tua is anything but.

Time after time, he comes up small in big moments with the game on the line.

Yeah, I know, vs the Ravens in 2022 or vs the Cowboys on Christmas Eve in 2023, he led the team into field goal range to have Jason Sanders kick the game-winner.

But those are the rare exceptions and not the norm.

The Titans game in 2023, today’s game against the Patriots, the game against Houston last season, and the game against Kansas City in Germany… the list is endless. I would be here a while listing all the games when, in a big moment, Tua doesn’t deliver.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I am not putting 100% of this loss on Tua today vs the Patriots. That would be unfair.

The defense is awful, the coaching staff is abysmal, and there is a lot of blame to go around.

Again, though, I want to stress that if you are going to pay your quarterback $212.4 million with $167 guaranteed, he needs to come through in the clutch even when everything around him isn’t perfect.

When Tua was drafted, his head coach was Brian Flores; it didn’t work out, and he was fired.

Mike McDaniel, after this 0-2 start that will soon be a 0-3 start after the Dolphins lose to Buffalo on Thursday, is on the fast track to be fired soon.

With the worst defense in the league (not up for debate), Miami is unlikely to win many games this year. What, 3, maybe 4?

McDaniel is getting fired; it’s a matter of WHEN, not IF.

You can’t keep Tua around and let him have a 3rd head coach. SPOILER ALERT: No coach will want to work with Tua, as they will view him as the “coach killer,” and no coach should be forced to work with a guy who clearly isn’t up for the job.

Then throw in the fact that, after this loss to the Patriots today, Tua said this below

Tua was very open in the post-game press conference about there being operational issues & getting the right personnel on the field, especially late in the 4th quarter. He says that he’s going to have a conversation with Mike McDaniel & Darren Bevel about how to get this fixed. pic.twitter.com/rXKsfydCZX

— Josh Moser (@TheMozKnowz) September 14, 2025

So, either Tua needs the offense dumbed down for him, as he struggles to run it, or he is criticizing his head coach and QB coach, Darrel Bevel, and throwing them under the bus.

Pick your poison, Dolphins fan; either way, it’s bad.

It’s not working in Miami. This is year 6, and it’s clearly not working.

Has Miami done a great job building the right team around Tua? No, but it doesn’t matter at this point.

We are at the point where it is best for all parties involved for this divorce to happen after the season.

Tua isn’t HIM

Tua has never been HIM

Tua will never be HIM

And the Dolphins front office is getting hit in the face with this cold, hard reality now in year six, and once this season painfully comes to an end, so will Tua’s time in Miami.

And to be clear, as I know there will be a vocal majority (well, probably a minority at this point) of Tua fans who drink the kool-aid who will point the finger at everyone else, as it’s never his fault, this is not personal.

Tua seems like a good guy, a good husband, a good father, and a good teammate.

It’s not personal, it’s business. Strictly business.

This article first appeared on Dolphins Talk and was syndicated with permission.

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