With their loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers on “Monday Night Football,” the Miami Dolphins were officially eliminated from playoff contention. Consequently, head coach Mike McDaniel made the difficult decision to bench starting quarterback Tua Tagovailoa for the team’s final three games of the regular season.
However, not everyone agrees with how McDaniel handled the situation, and he is taking heat from analysts.
Dolphins’ Benching of Tua Tagovailoa Draws Criticism
Not only is Tagovailoa serving as the Dolphins’ emergency quarterback in their Week 16 game against the Cincinnati Bengals, but he may have played his last snap for the franchise.
Just 17 months after signing Tagovailoa to the largest contract extension in Dolphins history, they’re traversing into a future that may not involve him. The expectation is that the Dolphins will cut ties with Tagovailoa in the offseason, and you need to look no further for evidence of that than the team’s decision to bench him.
The 15 interceptions he’s thrown in 14 games, coupled with his injury history, paint a murky picture of Tagovailoa’s dependability. There’s also the fact that Tagovailoa has no ties to the regime that drafted him; Chris Grier, who was responsible for the selection in 2020, was fired on Halloween.
🎥 Rex Ryan blasts Mike McDaniel for the benching of Tua Tagovailoa: “It’s a horrible message you send to the rest of your football team by benching [Tua]… what happened to your [QB2]? You just passed him over. Zach Wilson, here’s the message to you too.” (@ESPNNFL) #PhinsUp pic.twitter.com/wVpgVdUWV1
— FinsXtra (@FinsXtra) December 21, 2025
Former NFL head coach Rex Ryan shredded McDaniels’ decision to shelf the former first-round pick on ESPN’s “Sunday NFL Countdown.”
“You haven’t had a playoff win in 20 years. It isn’t just about Super Bowls, it’s about being competitive and winning a darn playoff game,” Ryan said. “And, to me, it’s been an epic fail. That GM is out of there. You took a small, left-handed quarterback with questionable arm talent and an injury history. By the way, you passed on Justin Herbert; probably an epic fail there.”
Tagovailoa was the second quarterback off the board in his draft class after the Bengals selected Joe Burrow at No. 1 overall. The Dolphins opted for Tagovailoa over Herbert, Jordan Love, and Jalen Hurts. In Ryan’s mind, benching Tagovailoa in favor of Quinn Ewers, who has been the Dolphins’ No. 3 quarterback for much of the season, sends a horrible message to the rest of the locker room.
Ewers, a seventh-round rookie, was the Dolphins’ choice to start in Week 16 over Zach Wilson, a former No. 2 overall pick who has been the primary backup quarterback behind Tagovailoa.
“I just think the message is horrendous,” Ryan said. He also insinuated that the Dolphins are choosing to bench Tagovailoa because of the $167.17 million dollars worth of guaranteed money in his contract that they don’t want to be stuck with in the event that he gets hurt.
“We’re punting on the season. How else do I know it’s a horrible message to send? What happened to your number two quarterback? So, Zach Wilson, here’s a message to you, too. You’re not going to be in the building, either. They don’t think you can play worth a darn. How do you pass him? He’s been the number two all season and you just say, ‘Forget it, let’s play the rookie to see what we have in him.’ I hate the message. We saw a similar message from the Giants when they benched Daniel Jones,” added Ryan.
In his sixth campaign as the Dolphins’ starting quarterback, Tagovailoa earned a PFSN QB Impact grade of 72.1, tying him with New Orleans Saints rookie quarterback Tyler Shough.
