Miami Dolphins QB Quinn Ewers on the support he received from his family
- The Dolphins have benched Tagovailoa for the rest of the season, starting rookie Quinn Ewers instead.
- Tagovailoa has struggled this season, leading the league with 15 interceptions for the 6-8 team.
Cris Carter is calling it like just about everyone else is seeing it – the rest of the NFL has caught up with Tua Tagovailoa and the Miami Dolphins.
The Pro Football Hall of Fame receiver, who is now the executive director of player engagement at Florida Atlantic, knows a thing or two about playing on a great offense, once helping the 1998 Minnesota Vikings set the single-season record for points (556) while averaging 34.8 points per game. It wasn’t too long ago that the Dolphins had a dynamic offensive unit, scoring 70 points on the Denver Broncos and ranking second in the NFL in scoring (29.2 points per game) in 2023.
However, a lot can change in two years. Not only will the Dolphins miss the playoffs for the second consecutive season, they’ve now benched their franchise quarterback, Tua Tagovailoa, for the remaining three games of the season. Rookie Quinn Ewers will take over the starting job after serving as the No. 3 quarterback for most of the season, with Coach Mike McDaniel saying the seventh-round draft pick gives the Dolphins the “best chance” to win.
“We’ve seen so many players have a good year or two, and then the league adjusts to them, and then they look mediocre,” said Carter in a one-on-one interview. “And that’s where Tua and the offense is with the Dolphins.”
Carter may best be known for his tenure with the Vikings, but he played his final season with the Dolphins in 2002 and has been a resident of Boca Raton for decades. He will be participating in the James Hardie Pro Football Hall of Fame Invitational with 25 other Pro Football Hall of Famers at The Old Course at Broken Sound in March.
The 60-year-old keeps close tabs on the Dolphins and says that the rest of the NFL has “adjusted” to their previously explosive offense. It wasn’t too long ago that Tagovailoa clinched a Pro Bowl berth after leading the league in passing yards in 2023. He also led the NFL in passer rating and although he was less explosive last season, he still turned in a decent campaign by leading the league in completion percentage while posting a 101.4 passer rating.
However, things have really bottomed out this season, with Tagovailoa leading the NFL in interceptions (15), including a number of costly picks for the 6-8 team.
“Mike McDaniels, his style, Tua, it’s just like a rookie player,” Carter said. “Rookie comes in, has success. The league has 17 to 18 games of tape on you. Guess what the league does? The league adjusts. In that system, they’re giving them different coverages.
“They’re not letting them throw the ball across the middle of the field and catch all those slants and quick posts and they’re not letting them do that anymore. Just because you did it once, doesn’t mean you can continue to do it. We have seen this through the years — Robert Griffin III (is an example). Yes, it was injuries and everything, but the league adjusted to him.”
Tua’s salary dead cap hit pre-June 1 would be $99.2 million
The Dolphins face a conundrum because of Tagovailoa’s heavy cap hit. If Miami releases him before June 1, it would result in the largest dead cap hit of $99.2 million. If he’s designated as a post-June 1 cut, it would still result in a $67.4 million hit in 2026 and $31.8 million in 2027. Trading him would deal the Dolphins a $45.2 million dead cap hit.
The Denver Broncos are an example of a team that is still dealing with the financial ramifications of releasing a highly-paid player but managing to bounce back. After releasing quarterback Russell Wilson and incurring a heavy dead cap hit – they’re taking a $32 million hit this year after dealing with a record $53 million last season – they’ve bounced back to have the best record in the NFL at 12-2.
Cris Carter does not see any NFL team making Tua its starting QB
Carter does not believe any NFL team will make Tagovailoa its starting quarterback next season.
“Not unless they’re paying him $10 million or something,” he said. “I don’t see any franchise that needs a quarterback that would call Tua and say, ‘Hey, I want you to be our starting quarterback.’ Look at the teams that need a quarterback – the Raiders, the Jets, I don’t even think Minnesota would bring him in to compete with J.J. McCarthy next year and he’s going into his third year.”
Carter delved further into the situation, attributing it not just to Tagovailoa’s recent performance, but also his history of concussions.
“Because it’s really not only his health, do you have a system that will accommodate him,” Carter said. “He’s had a handful of concussions, he’s not as tough. He’s not the same Tua that was playing in Alabama in the first two years. He knows that he can’t stand one more big hit. It has changed him psychologically and physically.”