Tua Tagovailoa makes the wrong kind of NFL history

Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa. Sam Navarro-Imagn Images

Tua Tagovailoa makes wrong kind of NFL history amid benching

By Steve DelVecchio | Last updated Dec 18, 2025 9:05 AM ET

The Miami Dolphins have decided to bench Tua Tagovailoa with three games remaining in the 2025 season, and the quarterback will make some unfortunate NFL history when he begins Sunday's game on the sideline.

Rookie quarterback Quinn Ewers is reportedly preparing to start for Miami over Tagovailoa in Sunday's game against the Cincinnati Bengals. The change comes after the Dolphins were officially eliminated from postseason contention with their 28-15 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Monday night.

As Jeff Howe of The Athletic notes, Tagovailoa is one of 11 quarterbacks in the NFL who currently have an average annual salary of at least $50 million. Tua will now become the first player to ever be benched for poor performance while earning that much money.

Tua Tagovailoa is still owed a ton of money

The Dolphins signed Tagovailoa to a four-year, $212.4M contract extension before last season. Tagovailoa is owed $54M in fully guaranteed salary for the 2026 season. Miami would have to absorb a $99M dead salary cap hit if it were to cut Tagovailoa this offseason.

The numbers game:

Tua Tagovailoa already has $54 million guaranteed to him in 2026.

On March 15, $3M of his 2027 salary becomes guaranteed.

Cutting him would leave $99M in dead money.

Post June 1 cut would equal $67.4M in dead money in 2026, $31.8M in 2027. https://t.co/DowBg5XZCR
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) December 17, 2025

Tagovailoa is set to count more than $50M against the salary cap in 2027 and more than $60M in 2028. Moving on from him after the 2026 season would be far less costly for Miami, but there is no easy way out of the deal unless a team were to trade for the former Alabama star. That seems unlikely at this point, unless the Dolphins were willing to eat a significant portion of Tagovailoa's contract.

Where do the Dolphins go from here?

Though the Dolphins have shown signs of improvement over the past two months, Tagovailoa has struggled with turnovers all season. He has 2,660 passing yards, 20 touchdowns and a career-worst 15 interceptions. Losing Tyreek Hill hurt Miami's offense as a whole, but Tagovailoa and company have been on a downward trend since last season.

Logic would tell you the Dolphins are planning to move on from Tagovailoa; otherwise, there would be no reason to strip him of his starting job. But financially, there isn't a whole lot the team can do. The Dolphins may have no choice but to enter 2026 with Tua as their starter and try to re-tool around him.

Steve DelVecchio

Steve is a veteran writer who has covered a variety of sports and pop culture topics for more than 15 years. In addition to Yardbarker, his work has been featured on prominent digital publications including Larry Brown Sports, MSN and FOX Sports. The UConn graduate has published more than 40,000 stories and is one of the most experienced trending news writers in the country

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