The Miami Dolphins have decided to simply rip off the band-aid with Tua Tagovailoa, with ESPN's Adam Schefter reporting on Monday that the team plans to release its embattled QB. Miami would no doubt have loved to have found a trade partner for Tua, but their desire to get him off the roster as soon as possible left them with very little leverage, and other teams weren't exactly lining up to assume the back half of his four-year, $212.4 million contract. Considering Tagovailoa's struggles to stay healthy, and his struggles to throw the ball in cold weather, paying him franchise money was a non-starter.
But what about paying him peanuts? With the Dolphins on the hook for an NFL record $99 million dead-cap hit this season as a result of Tagovailoa's release, the lefty is free to sign with another team for the veteran minimum of $1.3 million — with Miami picking up the rest of his tab for 2026. Tagovailoa is by no means a perfect player, or even a particularly good one. But with so much demand for quarterbacks around the league and such little supply, several teams should be interested in picking him up on the cheap – much like the Steelers did with Russell Wilson just a couple years ago.
Atlanta Falcons
The Falcons find themselves in a bit of an awkward spot at the quarterback position. Michael Penix Jr. is coming back from yet another serious knee injury, and he hasn't shown enough when healthy to convince Atlanta to commit to him for 2026 — much less beyond. At the same time, though, finding a meaningful upgrade might be difficult considering that they're not as desirable a destination as some other teams in the quarterback market this offseason (the Vikings and Steelers especially).
If Kyler Murray opts to go elsewhere and the Falcons lose a bidding war for Malik Willis, they might be forced to pivot to Tua as a Plan C. He's a lefty like Penix, which doesn't hurt, and he at the very least gives you another viable option if Penix struggles to stay healthy or simply struggles to be effective. With the weapons this offense possesses, Atlanta won't need much more than a point guard to move the ball and stay reasonably competitive, and this would allow Tagovailoa to play his home games in a dome and his road games in places like Tampa Bay, New Orleans and Charlotte. He could keep the team afloat without compromising their ability to find a new franchise QB in 2027.
Indianapolis Colts
The Colts slapped Daniel Jones with the transition tag, essentially buying themselves some time to make a long-term decision as they see how he comes back from a torn Achilles last December. But even if Jones can return to the field looking something like the guy who tore up the league in the first half of 2025, it seems incredibly unlikely that he'll be ready in Week 1.
Which means that Indy needs a stopgap to hold down the fort until Jones returns, and offer some insurance in case he doesn't bounce back or gets hurt again. Neither Willis nor Murray are likely to accept such a murky role, but Tagovailoa should jump at the chance to get to play indoors on a competitive team for a sharp offensive mind in Shane Steichen. Someone like Kirk Cousins might be a better fit for Steichen's scheme, but Tua is worth a look as a guy who can keep the train on the tracks without kicking off a quarterback controversy.
Arizona Cardinals
Arizona would surely love to be the one to pay Willis in free agency, but it seems hard to believe that he'd willingly sign with a team so far away from contention. This feels like a true year zero under new head coach Mike LaFleur, a season spent taking lumps, tidying the cap sheet and biding time until you get another crack at finding your quarterback of the future in next year's draft.
Of course, you still need to field a functional team in 2026. The Cardinals still have Jacoby Brissett in the building, but we know that Brissett comes with a hard ceiling. What's the harm in taking a flier on Tagovailoa and seeing if he can capture some of his old magic in LaFleur's offense? If it flops, you hand the keys to Brissett and play out the string of what's going to be a lost season anyway. If it hits, you can either committ to Tua next offseason or flip him for valuable draft capital.
Dallas Cowboys
No, I'm not trying to argue that Tagovailoa would threaten Dak Prescott's job. But I am arguing that Prescott doesn't exactly have the cleanest injury history, and Dallas has too much talent on offense to let it die on the vine in the event that he's sidelined for a meaningful period of time.
With all due respect to Joe Milton III, he's more of a highlight reel than a complete player at this point in his career. I have very little faith that, for all his physical gifts, he'd be able to steer this offense should Prescott go down. Tagovailoa at the very least knows how to get the ball into the hands of his playmakers as quickly as possible, and he'd get to play his home games in a dome. There's a good chance that he finds himself without a viable path to a starting role next season, and if that is in fact the case, backing up Prescott is about as good as he could hope for.