It’s no secret that the Miami Dolphins are cutting costs and shaking up the roster. New general manager Jon-Eric Sullivan already cleared over $50 million in cap space this week by releasing Bradley Chubb and Tyreek Hill, among others. They could be trying to trade Minkah Fitzpatrick, too. Could Tua Tagovailoa be the next one to go?
Speculation has long pointed to the Dolphins moving on from their franchise quarterback, especially after cutting ties with former head coach Mike McDaniel. The question is, how will the Dolphins pull it off? Tagovailoa is coming off his worst season yet, and he’s already guaranteed a $54 million salary for 2026. That’s not exactly a salary teams are itching to trade for, not without the Dolphins being willing to pay some of the money, too.
Meanwhile, according to Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk, some inside league circles are wondering whether the Dolphins may be willing to just cut Tagovailoa. If so, they’d have two options: take the full $99 million cap hit for 2026 or spread the cap charge out across two seasons.
“Some in league circles think the Dolphins may do just that. Eat the full $99.2 million now. With the cap for 2026 projected to fall between $301.2 million and $305.7 million for the coming year, anywhere from 32.4 percent to 32.9 percent of the team’s total cap space would be allocated to Tagovailoa.”
PFT’s Mike Florio on Tua Tagovailoa
Florio’s sources indicate that the Dolphins may actually prefer the first option, suffering a $99 million dead cap charge for 2026. If so, it would be the single largest cap charge of an individual player in NFL history. Making matters worse, the Dolphins would be paying nearly $100 million for a player who wouldn’t even be on their roster.
Previously, the largest dead cap charge a team has taken is when the Denver Broncos absorbed an NFL-record $53 million cap hit to release Russell Wilson. Now, the Dolphins may be prepared to nearly double that amount, just to get the QB off their roster.
Related: NFL Executives Doubt Miami Dolphins’ Ability to Get Rid of Tua Tagovailoa
