The fall from grace for Tua Tagovailoa has been startling. Once heralded as the savior of the Miami Dolphins organization, his star seems to have already shone too brightly. Now, his numbers have plummeted, and the organization appears ready to move on from him, even with an albatross of a contract around his neck.
After a loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers officially ended all playoff hopes for the team, they announced that he was being benched for Week 16 in favor of rookie Quinn Ewers. But for some, this feels like the beginning of the end for a once-promising success story in the NFL.
Tua Tagovailoa Might Have to Question His Football Mortality
The primary concern with the former first-round pick has always been a question about his health. Thanks to his relatively small frame and a propensity to get hit, concussions had become an unfortunate reality of his career.
As a result, many believed retirement was on the board for the Hawaiian-born superstar. Unfortunately, the problems have only multiplied in the years since. After leading the Dolphins to the playoffs in 2023, he was extended to a blockbuster four-year, $212.4 million deal.
Things have only been going downhill ever since. His numbers took a slight hit in 2024, but that could be attributed to injuries. This year, though, they have been outright dreadful as Miami has failed to put together consistent offensive performances.
Finally, with his benching, Danny Parkins of Fox Sports went ahead and made a bold proclamation about this being the end of the former Pro Bowler’s career. “You combine a small quarterback, not the strongest arm, playing to not get hit, and you get what you saw the other night.”
MORE: 3-Round 2026 NFL Mock Draft
In Parkins’ terms, “His career is over because he’s way too expensive and too accomplished and he’s made too much money and he’s too young.” After ranking in the top-10 of PFSN’s QB Impact in each of the last three seasons, he’s fallen to 25th this year.
“Is he going to play for six million bucks to be someone’s, to be Patrick Mahomes’ backup next year? Like that would shock me in a strange way,” Parkins continued. “Is Tua a $5-$10 million a year backup for a great quarterback? That would shock me.”
As bitter a pill as it might be to swallow, his injury history makes it unlikely that another team takes a significant risk with him in the coming years. Instead, the best-case scenario is that he turns it around in a way that players like Daniel Jones and Sam Darnold have in recent years.
But the fact that they didn’t climb the same heights as Tagovailoa makes it an even more brutal reality for him to bargain with. It will be interesting to see what the next steps in his career turn out to be, but every situation is murky at best, at least for now.
