Why the Dolphins' Answer on Tua Remains Consistent

When the Miami Dolphins introduced their 2026 coordinators with a press conference Wednesday, the inevitable question regarding Tua Tagovailoa's status with the team came up during Bobby Slowik's turn at the mike.

And the answer was consistent with what new GM Jon-Eric Sullivan and new head coach Jeff Hafley have said in prior interviews.

It's too early in the process to answer that question.

Just as we should have suspected.

It's a question that needs to be asked, and should be asked, every single time a Dolphins official with some authority over the offense conducts a media session or press conference because it's obviously very relevant.

It's also not a question the Dolphins are likely to answer before they make a final determination on whether to keep him, release him or trade him.

And if the Dolphins indeed are prepared to move on from Tua and deal with the cap ramifications, as seems to be popular opinion, it serves little purpose for Sullivan, Hafley or Slowik to declare that publicly at this time.

The reason is simple: If the Dolphins do want to move on from Tua, the best option would be a trade and announcing to the world that intention would remove the incentive of a potential trade partner to give up anything for Tua if he's just going to get released anyway.

So it could be that the Dolphins have a pretty good idea or maybe even know what Tua's 2026 status will be, but it's pretty much counterproductive for them to make any public declarations.

SLOWIK'S STATEMENTS

This is exactly what Slowik, promoted from senior pass game coordinator to offensive coordinator, said Wednesday about Tua's roster status.

"Obviously, we're way early in the process of this whole thing with the new staff," Slowik said. "There's new people everywhere. Being perfectly honest, we're still going through the staffing on my end, that hasn't quite been buttoned up yet, so we still got some things going on there. So like the player evaluation mode, we're still in that. Also, there's a lot of new coaches. So even getting to the point where we're able to talk about who's going to be here, how are we going to do this, like we haven't even got anywhere remotely close to that, with the exception of knowing that we're going to try to push competition as often as we can at every single spot."

Asked what he thought went wrong with Tagovailoa last season when his performance clearly regressed, Slowik chalked it up to a variety of reasons.

He did say he liked how Tagovailoa handled the disappointing season.

"I think what jumped out to me was the grace he handled that with the way he went about his daily routine through that season, even at the end of the year, the kind of person he was to everybody and to his teammates," Slowik said. "I mean, you can't say enough about that, how good of a person he was and how he handled that situation is all you can ask."

Slowik also was asked whether Tua can bounce back and he again provided the only answer that anyone should have expected, an answer that actually got headlines but really shouldn't have — because what else was he going to say?

"What I think is so great about sports, and really why a large region people get into coaching is, there's stories like that all the time," Slowik said. "You're talking about people that are at the peak of their profession. They're the best in the world at what they do, not just physically, but like mentally. They're some of the strongest human beings there are. And some of the things that all athletes, every year you hear comeback stories. So absolutely, I think Tua, he can absolutely bounce back. I think that's one of the great things about sports."

Again, would anybody ever expect that answer to be, "No, he's done."

The question actually is valid, though not quite as pertinent as which teams will employ Tua in 2026.

No one should have expected Slowik to provide a clue on this day, nor should we expect an answer before the Dolphins officially make their move.