The Miami Dolphins suffered an ugly Week 15 loss against the Pittsburgh Steelers that officially eliminated the team from playoff contention. After the ugly performance, head coach Mike McDaniel decided to bench Tua Tagovailoa for the rest of the season.
The quarterback leads the NFL in interceptions, and the Dolphins are missing the postseason for the second year in a row. On Friday, an NFL insider provided some more details on why the Tagovailoa decision was made.
NFL Insider Explains Why Tagovailoa Was Benched Ahead of Week 16
In 2025, Tagovailoa has played in 14 games and has thrown for 2,660 yards with 20 touchdowns and 15 interceptions. PFSN’s QB Impact ranking gives Tagovailoa a 72.1 grade for 2025, which ranks 25th out of 44 qualified passers.
On Friday, NFL insider Tom Pelissero appeared on the “Rich Eisen Show,” and the topic of Tagovailoa’s benching came up. “At the end of the season, once you’re out of it, if you are thinking you may be moving on from a player, it doesn’t do you any good organizationally to have that player on the field,” Pelissero explained.
The Dolphins are turning to rookie Quinn Ewers at quarterback for the rest of the season. Considering Tagovailoa has been benched, it seems likely the Dolphins will try to move the quarterback in the offseason.
“It became abundantly clear on a lot of different levels here that this was not the same Tua that we’ve seen in the past,” Pelissero continued. “The difference that you saw on the field is the same as the difference they’ve seen off the field.”
Pelissero also mentioned that Tagovailoa doesn’t have the “conviction” McDaniel wants out of a quarterback. The coach reportedly went with Ewers over Zach Wilson due to Ewers’ strong relationship with his teammates.
Ewers will have the next three games to try to prove he belongs as the QB1 in Miami.
What’s next for Tua Tagovailoa and the Dolphins?
Tagovailoa, at one point, looked like a future star quarterback. In 2023, the quarterback earned a Pro Bowl selection, led the league in passing yards, and took the Dolphins to the playoffs.
However, Tagovailoa only played in 11 games due to injury in 2024, and his production took a hit as well. That dip in production carried over into 2025, and now the quarterback will sit on the bench.
Tagovailoa signed a massive four-year, $212.4 million deal with the Dolphins in the summer of 2024. If the Dolphins trade Tagovailoa after June 1, they can save $43 million against the cap while incurring $13.4 million in dead money in 2026.
