The Arizona Cardinals, Las Vegas Raiders, Minnesota Vikings, and Los Angeles Rams have been dubbed as the top landing spots for a former Pro Bowl quarterback who has had a rough 2025 campaign.
Tua Tagovailoa's tenure with the Miami Dolphins seems to be coming to an end after he was benched ahead of the team's Week 17 matchup versus the Cincinnati Bengals.
Moving on from Tagovailoa will be expensive for Miami, and it could be tough for the Dolphins to find a suitor. However, USA TODAY's Jacob Camenker believes the Cardinals. Raiders, Vikings, and Rams could all pursue Tagovailoa in the offseason.
In 14 starts this year, Tagovailoa has completed 67.7% of his passes for 2,660 passing yards and 20 touchdowns. However, the Alabama product leads the league in interceptions thrown with 15 and has heavily regressed over the last two seasons.
If the Dolphins move on from Tagovailoa, they will have to eat a dead cap charge of $92 million, unless the franchise moves on from the veteran quarterback after June 1st, which would take that number down to $67 million.
Though the dead cap hit could cause Miami to stick with Tagovailoa in 2026, there's also a chance the Dolphins cut their losses and begin a new era, no matter the financial consequences.
Arizona, Las Vegas, and Minnesota could be back in the quarterback market this offseason. The Cardinals and Kyler Murray seem destined for a split, Geno Smith hasn't worked out for the Raiders, and the Vikings may pull the plug on the J.J. McCarthy experiment sooner than expected.
However, it wouldn't make much sense for any of the teams above to add Tagovailoa, who is on a monstrous contract and wouldn't be much of an upgrade over any of their current options.
Los Angeles would be an intriguing landing spot for Tagovailoa. The 2020 No.5 overall pick could sit behind Matthew Stafford and learn in Sean McVay's system, but once again, his contract will likely scare away the Rams.
Tagovailoa likely won't find a home on the trade block, but the 27-year-old could garner some interest on the open market as a free agent, though Miami would likely want to move him in a trade and get some value back. Overall, this is a tough situation that doesn't have a clear resolution yet.