Miami Dolphins
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Joe Rose ripped Tua Taogvailoa after his latest comments
After six seasons, the Miami Dolphins made the difficult decision to cut former Pro Bowl quarterback Tua Tagovailoa despite him having $54 million guaranteed in the 2026 season. The decision was primarily difficult due to financial reasons, as releasing him resulted in Miami taking on $99 million in dead money over the next two seasons.
While Tagovailoa did make a Pro Bowl with the Dolphins after leading the NFL in passing yards, his play during the 2025 season did not live up to the standard he had previously set for himself when he signed his four-year, $212 million extension. Injuries, decreased mobility and turnovers characterized Tagovailoa’s past two seasons, which led to him getting benched in favor of seventh-round rookie Quinn Ewers during the final three games of the 2025 season.
After signing with the Atlanta Falcons, Tagovailoa agreed that his play was not up to expectationsas he said, “I would say more so last year has been the biggest setback that I felt wasn’t up to par of what the standard of play should have been.
However, Tagovailoa appeared to take a shot at former Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel as he said, “Yeah, you know, I don’t want to get too much in depth with things that were going on, more so in terms of players to coaches than it was players to players,” Tagovailoa added, “But it was unique, in a sense. It was unique.”
Former Miami Dolphins Player Rips Tua Tagovailoa
Tagovailoa’s comments irked some people who cover the Miami Dolphins, including former Dolphins player turned radio host Joe Rose.
“We paid that bum $200 million for one year of good play. $200 is gonna be the number when this year is over. We’re going to be looking at, in guaranteed money from his rookie signing bonus and the amount of money he just got that was guaranteed on that $200+ million contract,”Rose said, “And, he’s coming out with some kind of weak ‘It wasn’t players and players.’ Because he doesn’t want any of the players taking shots at him, because, they will, so he says the coach thing?”
Rose then defended McDaniel as he said, “”The only coach I can think of is a guy that treated him better than anybody he’s ever had treat him in his freaking life, Mike McDaniel. You can get on Mike, whatever you don’t like, but he treated that guy better than anybody. He changed and did as many things to give that guy a chance to be successful. He comes out, and people are going to think that was a Mike McDaniel thing.
Man, I have to tell you, for a guy that had a bad hip coming in and played like you know what last year to the point that they finally had to bench him after a Monday Night Football game, all his conversation should have been about second chance, playing for the Falcons and shouldn’t have been any of that stuff except ‘I didn’t play very well, last year.’ That’s it.”
Tua Tagovailoa’s Contract
After the season, evenTagovailoa agreed that it was best that he get a fresh start elsewhere, and despite him already signing with the Falcons, it does not seem like the conversation regarding Tagovailoa with Miami will quiet down any time soon.
Even though Tagovailoa is not on the Dolphins, he still accounts for the largest cap hit as he carries a $55.4 million cap hit this season. Meanwhile, his replacement, Malik Willis carries a $5.6 million cap hit.
While it would have been interesting to see Tagovailoa face off against the Dolphins, Miami does not play Atlanta during the 2026 NFL regular season.