Dolphins’ $15 million creative solution to Tua Tagovailoa contract is now official
Tua Tagovailoa agreed to a contract with the Atlanta Falcons within an hour of free agency’s tampering period. The problem? The Miami Dolphins hadn’t released him yet. When Wednesday came and went, the Dolphins still owned his rights. On Thursday morning, they made the move official.
Tagovailoa is now, officially, a former member of the Dolphins. It wasn’t a matter of whether it would happen, but of when and how it would happen. Shortly after news broke of his impending deal with the Falcons, the Dolphins’ social media team began sending out the obligatory “Thank you!” posts to the QB. Tagovailoa even sent out a thank you as well.
Yet, he remained on the Dolphins roster past the 4:00 p.m. start of the league’s new year. After spending the night chewing on their options, the Dolphins opted to officially designate him a post-June 1st release. It came with a caveat.
The #Dolphins have officially designated QB Tua Tagovailoa a Post 6/1 release. As part of the move, Miami exercised his $15M option bonus.
They’ll carry his $56.2M cap hit into June, then take on dead hits of:
2026: $55.4M (most ever)
2027: $43.8M— Spotrac (@spotrac) March 12, 2026
Miami Dolphins release of Tua Tagovailoa included picking up a $15 million option bonus
It took a while to wrap my brain around what the Dolphins were doing with the roster bonus. Leaving it alone would have carried a cap hit of around $67 million this year and an additional $34 million next year. By picking up the bonus, this year’s hit dips to $55 million, and next year’s hit climbs to $42 million. It all still balances out to the $99 million dead cap hit, but Miami gets more money this year.
On the surface, it would seem the Dolphins are paying more; in a way, they are, but by doing so, Jon-Eric Sullivan can create more cap relief in June this year. That money, along with the cap relief from Bradley Chubb’s post-June 1st release, will give the team money to use on their draft class and additional roster moves as needed.
In 2027, the increased hit will be offset by additional cap relief and the annual increase in the total league-wide cap ceiling.
The numbers continue to be a massive black eye on the Dolphins’ executives and owner Stephen Ross, who approved of the contract extension. Miami could have used the 5th-year option on Tagovailoa before giving him the payout, and let’s be real: despite his 2023 season, no one was beating down Miami’s door to make a trade.
The release means that Tagovailoa’s entire $54 million salary for 2026 will remain on the books until June second. It will then clear
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