Tua Tagovailoa was removed from his role as the Miami Dolphins’ starting quarterback after they were officially eliminated from the playoff race last week. His inconsistent performances and extensive injury history have often been questioned around the NFL, but Shannon Sharpe recently took a different angle. He apparently has doubts about the veteran’s ethnicity.
Why Did Shannon Sharpe Question Dolphins’ QB Tua Tagovailoa’s Ethnicity?
Tagovailoa grew up in Hawaii, and his ethnicity is Samoan because both of his parents, Galu and Diane, are Samoan. Chad “Ocho Cinco” Johnson mentioned this during an episode of the “Nightcap” show, but Sharpe questioned whether it’s accurate.
“They normally don’t get hurt neither, so are we sure he’s full blooded … Those Samoans that I’ve played with, they don’t ever get hurt,” questioned Sharpe.
Sharpe is clearly referencing Tagovailoa’s extensive injury history, including multiple concerning concussions. He was directly responding to his co-host after Johnson praised the veteran quarterback with a WWE reference to an iconic Samoan family.
“My Samoan warrior, he put in the work. That’s my Uso. You know how them Samoans do, they don’t play when it comes to work,” stated Ocho Cinco.
Tagovailoa has unfortunately dealt with many injuries during his career, including at least three major concussions. He has been relatively healthy during the 2025 NFL season, but has still struggled overall. He currently ranks just 25th among quarterbacks in PFSN’s Impact Rankings for this season and leads the league with 15 interceptions.
He has started every game this year, but this will no longer be the case for the three remaining weeks of the season. The Dolphins recently announced that he will be replaced by rookie Quinn Ewers, a seventh-round draft pick. They made it official just days after their loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Monday Night Football, which mathematically eliminated them from playoff contention.
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The next step in Miami is deciding what to do with Tagovailoa during the offseason. It would be surprising at this point if they went back to him as their starter next year after benching him to finish this season. His massive contract, worth $212.4 million, makes the situation much more complicated.
Releasing him would be detrimental to their salary cap, as they would incur an enormous $99.2 million dead-cap penalty. Trading him is another option that would essentially cut the dead cap in half. Still, they may have difficulty finding a team willing to take on such a large contract, given his history of injuries and disappointing performances.
