Dolphins to release Tagovailoa after 6 seasons

The Miami Dolphins will release quarterback Tua Tagovailoa on Wednesday at the start of the league year, the team announced.

Tagovailoa joined the Dolphins as the fifth overall pick in 2020. His release comes less than two years after they signed him to a four-year, $212.4-million extension.

Miami will designate the transaction as a post-June 1 move, spreading his record $99.2-million cap hit over two seasons, according to ESPN's Marcel Louis-Jacques. The team will take on a dead hit of $67.4 million against the salary cap in 2026 and $31.8 million in '27.

Tagovailoa's time with the Dolphins was marked by injuries; he played only one full season with the team, in 2023. Overall, the 28-year-old made 76 starts with Miami, completing 68% of his passes while averaging 3,027 yards and 20 touchdowns against 10 interceptions per season.

Tagovailoa helped the Dolphins build a prolific offense during the 2022 and '23 seasons while working with then-head coach Mike McDaniel. He led the NFL with 4,624 passing yards and threw for a career-high 29 touchdowns in '23. However, Miami made only two playoff appearances and didn't win any postseason games during the McDaniel-Tagovailoa era.

The signal-caller said at the end of the 2025 campaign that he'd be OK with a change of scenery this offseason.

The Dolphins, who hired Jeff Hafley as head coach and Jon-Eric Sullivan as general manager in January, released a tribute video for Tagovailoa on social media Monday.

Hafley and Sullivan now have a major question at quarterback in their first offseason with the team. Miami started 2025 seventh-round pick Quinn Ewers in three games late last season after benching Tagovailoa.