Tua Tagovailoa and the Miami Dolphins had the kind of start to a season that usually only shows up in nightmares.
They lost 33-8 to the Indianapolis Colts, and frankly, the game wasn't even that close.
Tagovailoa was bad. The defense was bad. Everything was bad.
And so there were immediate questions: Can the Dolphins move on from Tua?
Not so fast.
It'd cost the Dolphins $79.2 million in dead cap space to cut Tagovailoa right now, writes ESPN's Matt Miller on X.
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That will not be happening, especially when the only fill-ins on the roster that would then get to play QB would be either Zach Wilson or Quinn Ewers.
That doesn't excuse the fact that Tua was 14-for-23 for 114 yards with two interceptions, a fumble lost and only a late, meaningless touchdown. But it's the reality of the NFL that on his current money, he has to be stuck with.
Tagovailoa signed a four-year, $212 million contract extension in the summer of 2024.
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He's in the first of the four years of that actual extension, and he's earning $25 million in base salary for the 2025 season.
Tua is due to make $39 million in base salary in 2026, then $31 million in 2027 and $41.4 million in 2028.
There's an out in his contract before the 2027 season that would result in $34.8 million in dead money, which is really the first realistic time something like that could happen. But that's two years down the road.
For now, Tagovailoa is the Dolphins' quarterback, for better or worse.
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