The Miami Dolphins are among the most interesting teams entering the 2026 offseason due to the uncertainty of their quarterback situation. The expectation around the league is that Miami will trade Tua Tagovailoa. With a new regime in charge, most anticipate general manager Jon-Eric Sullivan and coach Jeff Hafley to want to bring in their own guy at quarterback, but finding a trade for Tagovailoa after his struggles to end the 2025 season will be a challenge.
Sullivan spoke Tuesday at the NFL Scouting Combine and decided to jump in front of the Tagovailoa question when asked about evaluating the roster.
“We’re evaluating the entire roster, right. As it pertains to Tua [Tagovailoa], we’ve had conversations with Tua and his representation, everything is on the table including the potential of a trade,” Sullivan said. “We don’t know which way that’s gonna go. There’s a lot of different factors at play, lotta conversations being had. But evaluating the roster, Quinn [Ewers] did a nice job towards the end of the year. Excited about what’s ahead for him. Tua, I thought even though things did go well at the end of the year, did some good things along the way and it’s my job to infuse competition into that room, as well as every other room, as we go down the road.”
One of the complicating factors in trading Tagovailoa is the $45 million in dead cap the Dolphins face in the wake of trading him. Other factors include finding a team wanting to take a swing on Tagovailoa and the likelihood Miami would need to eat a good portion of the $54 million owed to Tagovailoa in 2026.
That’s all part of what Sullivan is trying to navigate right now, but it’s also notable that he points to Quinn Ewers, as the seventh-round pick from 2025 closed the season as the starter in Miami and threw for 622 yards, three touchdowns and three interceptions.
Miami has been strongly linked to Malik Willis as a free agent target given Sullivan and Hafley’s connection to Willis as a member of the Green Bay Packers the last two years. One question is what the order of operations needs to be for Miami to sign Willis, whether that can happen before they resolve Tagovailoa or if it would need to come after a Tagovailoa trade is completed.
All of that is what Sullivan and the new Dolphins front office is working through as the Combine begins and they have a chance to talk with other teams face-to-face in an attempt to find a resolution on Tagovailoa’s situation ahead of free agency starting on March 9.
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