The Takeaway

There is a conversation we can finally have about Tua “Turndaballova” Tagovailoa. The dude needs to hang it up. Not only is he bad. He is egregiously overpaid and underplayed (mainly due to injury). He makes baffling, bonehead decisions under the smallest amount of pocket pressure.

Tua Tagovailoa entered the NFL as one of the most promising young quarterbacks of the 2020 draft class. He became a franchise QB for the Miami Dolphins in his early career. In his first year, Tua played about as well as you would expect for a quarterback in his rookie season. Unfortunately, he only played 10 games before suffering an injury to his thumb. This would be the least crippling injury of his career.

Tua has actually only played one full NFL season in addition to one postseason game. 2023 was truly his one good season. That fact makes sense. What doesn’t make sense is his subsequent and instant regression. It truly seemed like the Dolphins might have found their franchise QB. Now, in 2026, it looks as though Miami is going to move on from him. After only playing 11 games in the 2025 season, Tua has been demoted to a third-string quarterback. This level of regression is absolutely unheard of at the QB position.

While I believe that Tua’s talent as a quarterback is indeed a problem, I think the crux of the issue is his injuries. Tua has sustained a slew of injuries since his rookie year and we cannot expect him to perform well when he is battling injuries. The problem is when his injuries are practically self-inflicted.

Now, I don’t mean that the guy is out there purposefully rolling his ankle or drinking from the same straw as someone with a cold. I mean, this man is basically self-concussing on any play where he scrambles. I don’t mean that as a joke. I feel like I was collectively hearing Fins fans hold their breath whenever Tua is forced out of the pocket. To Tua’s credit, he is not afraid to run hard and take hits. Now that I think about it, that could be because of the early onset CTE.

When Tua is forced out of the pocket, he can absolutely be mobile. But he takes completely unnecessary and baffling chances. When there is a clear path to avoid contact and save himself, Tua astonishingly chooses to run literally headfirst into defenders. You can forget about sliding, too! It took three concussions for him to finally start sliding. I do not know who he thinks he is. But he is most certainly not “him”.

Ever since the string of concussions that Tua has had, his talent has fallen off a proverbial cliff. This fall off has been so bad that he is now a third-string QB and is slowly making his way to practice squad status. The signs truly cannot be ignored, and the connections basically draw themselves. We have to look at the real likelihood that the Dolphins move on from Tua Tagovailoa this season. He is a liability and an overall mismatch for scheme fit. With the exit of Mike McDaniel, it is more likely than ever that he gets traded (or worse; released) to a team that has a big ol question mark at the quarterback position. Even then, he will likely be a backup for a team that just needs a warm body under center.

I hope that he can avoid injury and play like a QB rather than like he’s trying to speed run CTE. Even then, if the Dophins do not get him the protection he needs, it may not matter whether he has to use his legs or not.

Barring injury to Quinn Ewers or Zach Wilson, Tua Tagovailoa playing another snap as a starter is far from close to coming to fruition. That may be for the best. I think that, given the circumstances of his health and the sharp decline in decision-making and play quality, Tua Tagovailoa needs to hang up the cleats, retire, and preserve his mental health for the future. If he does not retire, not only is he risking permanent and irreversible damage to his health, but he will also be riding the bench, hoping that one day his mediocre play will get him back into a starting position.