Well, folks… We’ve reached crazy season when it comes to rumors surrounding the Miami Dolphins, quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, NFL free agency and the 2026 NFL Draft. Wherever you look, national media, local journalists, and even fans of the organization are throwing out sizzling hot takes when it comes to what the Dolphins should do to replace former #5 overall draft pick in the 2020 NFL Draft, the aforementioned Tagovailoa.
One of the more laughable ideas as to how Miami could move on from their former
lefty signal caller started making the rounds on social media recently — the idea of trading Tagovailoa AND the team’s first round draft pick in the 2026 NFL Draft (number 11 overall) in order to offload the quarterback and his full contract.
Jonathan Jones of CBS Sports wrote an article on Wednesday that detailed a conversation he had with an unnamed NFL executive where the individual stated the only way he’d trade for Tagovailoa and take on his massive salary would be if Miami included their first round pick in the deal.
Before anyone gets any fancy ideas…
That. Is. Not. Happening.
Jones would go on to say:
The odds have been overwhelmingly in favor of the Dolphins exercising Tagovailoa ‘s 2026 option at some point 10 days after the start of the league year and then releasing him as a post-June 1 designation. That will spread the $99 million dead cap hit over two seasons and make Tagovailoa free to sign somewhere on the veteran minimum.
For a team that just hired a new general manager in Jon-Eric Sullivan, they’ll want to be able to collect and use as many draft picks as possible in an effort to rebuild the franchise. Sending their most valuable asset to unload Tagovailoa and his contract is not something that many could see happening, but as Sullivan has said in interviews recently, when it comes to Miami’s fallen quarterback savior, “Everything is on the table,” so I guess this fanciful idea should not be entirely ruled out.
