As the clock ticks towards the beginning of the brand new league 12 months on March 11, the Dolphins will quickly be making a resolution about the way forward for quarterback Tua Tagovailoa.
If they have not already determined to preserve him because the starter, possibilities are they’re solely considering about how they are going to extricate themselves from his contract.
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At a fan occasion on Thursday night time, G.M. Jon-Eric Sullivan and coach Jeff Hafley were asked about the quarterback state of affairs, Tua Tagovailoa’s standing, and whether or not the Dolphins will probably be taking a look at different quarterbacks within the draft.
“Of course, we’ll be looking at other quarterbacks in this draft,” Sullivan mentioned, to a spherical of applause. “And every draft hereafter. But, look, I’ve had — Tua was in my office the other day, if I’m being perfectly frank. We had a great conversation. Tua has been a very good player in this league. He’s done a lot of really good things for the Miami Dolphins. You guys should be proud to have him and having had him.
“I do not know what the long run holds proper now, and I instructed Tua that. We’re working via some issues. What I can inform you is that we’re gonna infuse competitors into that room, whether or not Tua is a part of the room, whether or not he isn’t a part of the room. We’re gonna infuse competitors into that room, like we’ll do in each different place. Tua is aware of the place we are. We’ve been very trustworthy and upfront, and Tua additionally is aware of that he would be the first to know after we make a resolution. So if Tua is the primary to know, you guys cannot be the primary to know, and I do know that you simply respect and admire that.
“But we’re getting close to a decision. And when we do, we’ll let Tua know whether he’s gonna be part of this or not, and we’ll move forward. But you can rest assured that we will add competition to that room, one way or the other, to make it the best that we can.”
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Said Hafley after Sullivan completed: “Yeah, I don’t think I need to add anything.”
Whatever they do, the Dolphins are caught. They owe Tua $54 million for 2026, totally assured. If they minimize him, he’ll go away behind $99 million in cap costs that may most definitely be divided over two seasons.
A trade is possible, however they’d have to pay a great amount of the assured wage so as to make it occur. In the tip, the Dolphins might have to do a Brock Osweiler-style deal, wherein they offer somebody a draft choose or two so as to eat a few of the money and cap area.
Of course, the Dolphins additionally might simply preserve him. They have to pay him; they do not have to play him. Given every part that has occurred over the previous six seasons, it might be awkward to do this — particularly with a new regime making an attempt to flip the web page.
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However it goes, it appears as if the Dolphins are dealing much less with the query of whether or not he’ll return and extra with the problem of how to engineer his exit, thanks to a market-level contract former G.M. Chris Grier by no means ought to have paid.