The Miami Dolphins have announced they are benching former 1st round pick Tua Tagovailoa in favour of rookie QB Quinn Ewers for their game vs. Cincinnati.
Tagovailoa threw his league leading 15th interception of the season on Monday, dropping the team to 6-8 on the year and ending their hopes of reaching the postseason. Across 14 contests, Crimson Tide alum has completed 67.7% of his passes for 2,660 yards, 20 TDs and 15 picks.
The move was foreshadowed by head coach Mike McDaniel’s comments on Tuesday regarding the lack of production at the QB position this year. “I think the quarterback play last night was not good enough, and so for me, everything’s on the table,” he said.
After leading the league in passing yards in 2023 (4,624 yards), Tua has struggled to replicate that level of success. As a result, instead of signing a long term deal after his rookie contract, the two sides agreed to a 4 year, $212.4M extension which averaged out to just over $53M per season.
While technically still under contract through the 2028 NFL campaign, the team would have a potential out after the 2026 season which would feature a $34.8M dead cap hit. If the team were to move on from Tua next year by comparison, it would cost them $99.2M in dead cap space. All that works out to at least one more year of Tagovailoa involved in the team’s offence, though in what capacity likely depends on how Ewers does down the stretch to close out the year.
With Zach Wilson also on the roster, it’s currently unclear who would be “QB2” on the depth chart between Wilson and Tagovailoa against the Bengals this weekend.
For his part, Ewers was a former top prospect who was widely expected to be the next great quarterback in Texas. Mocked as a potential 1st rounder across several scouting services, his star faded in his final collegiate season, resulting in a 7th round (231st overall) draft slot this spring.
Across 14 games in 2024 with the Longhorns, Ewers completed 65.8% of his passes for 3,472 yards through the air. His 31 passing TDs led the conference, but unfortunately his 12 INTs did the same. The 22 year old and his Longhorn teammates were defeated by Ohio State in the Cotton Bowl, as the Buckeyes would go on to claim a National Championship in the College Football Playoff.
Ewers saw some Week 7 action in his team’s game vs. the Browns where he completed 5 of 8 passes for 53 yards. For much of the season, he’s been designated as the team’s emergency backup QB in Miami.
With McDaniel likely coaching for his job over the final 3 games, there’s not much to lose by giving the former highly thought of prospect a shot under centre.
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