The Miami Dolphins may be riding high with Tua Tagovailoa after last weekend’s victory over the Atlanta Falcons, but they still remain 2-6 in a tough division with very little realistic chance of making it into the postseason.
Despite his ups and downs – especially this season, in which he holds his lowest passer rating since his rookie season – the majority of people and fans still regard him as a positive asset for the team, especially after hi four-touchdown performance on Sunday.
However, not everyone sees the former Alabama man this way.
Trade Pitch Sees The Dolphins Give Up Tagovailoa And Draft Picks
Seth Walder, writing for ESPN on Wednesday, proposed the idea for a very out-of-the-box trade proposal that would send Tua and his lofty four year, $212 million contract to the Las Vegas Raiders as a designated negative asset, and thus also add on second round picks in both the 2026 and 2027 NFL Draft.
“Hear me out. This is the Brock Osweiler trade on steroids.” Walder wrote on Wednesday. “The Raiders currently have $103 million and $174 million in 2026 and 2027 cap space, respectively. What I would propose here is the Dolphins send a 2026 second-round pick and 2027 second-round pick along with Tagovailoa in exchange for a 2027 fifth-round pick.”
The main reason for Tagovailoa being considered such a low value, negative piece, is due to his very large contract, which pays him around $51 million/year.
Although the Hawaii native has been a productive quarterback over the duration of his time in the NFL, injury history, poor winter form and some inconsistent lapses in judgement on deep balls have many unconvinced at the size of his rookie extension.
“If that trade happened next week,” Walder continued, “Las Vegas would keep Tagovailoa through 2026 at a cost of roughly $70 million over that time, the vast majority fully guaranteed. It would get the Dolphins out of their tight cap situation so they can reset and rebuild, and it would be a more efficient use of resources for Las Vegas — regardless of whether Tagovailoa ever takes the field for them or not.”
Would The Dolphins Really Bail On Tua’s Contract?
Walder posits that Tua could get a fresh start in Vegas, whose own Geno Smith experiment is going far from ideally, and Vegas could reclaim multiple early-round picks in exchange for giving up some cap space in the short to medium term.
In reality, the likelihood that Miami thinks lowly enough of their starting quarterback, whom they just signed to said extension one year ago, to move him and second round picks in consecutive years for just a fifth rounder in return is very low.
If Tagovailoa simply couldn’t play and had that contract attached to him, the deal might make more sense, but there is no question that he is – especially in the right scheme – a more than competent, starting signal caller in the NFL.
But if the right offer comes in for Tua, and Miami gets a bona fide opportunity to move off his extension, general manager Chris Grier will certainly be tempted.
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