It’s been one heck of a season in South Beach for the Miami Dolphins. And, I promise, I don’t mean that in a good way.
With a loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Monday night in a no-margin-for-error-at-this-point game for the Dolphins, they have now all but been eliminated from playoff contention. And when I say “all but been eliminated,” I mean they have been and there is no mathematical way they can play more than the required 17 games of the season.
So, when you’re out of playoff contention and your quarterback is nothing short of an expensive hot mess, what do you do? You bench him and see what the seventh-round pick from Texas can do for the final three games of the season.
That’s fine, but now you’ve got Dolphins players (you know exactly who I’m talking about) openly cheering the decision to bench Tua Tagovailoa? Have the Dolphins been a dysfunctional, lifeless mess for the 2025 season because everyone internally can’t stand the quarterback? It’s fair to say that some/many think so.
Tyreek Hill isn’t mad at the Miami Dolphins for benching Tua Tagovailoa
I don’t know this for sure and I’m not a betting man, but if I had to wager a few dollars on it, I’d be willing to bet that wide receiver Tyreek Hill isn’t winning any Walter Payton Man of the Year Awards any time soon. That’s mainly because it says right in the definition something about recognizing excellence on and off the field. So yeah, not happening.
He can be, however, a pretty good bellwether for the team especially when things are bad. And things in Miami are, indeed, bad right now. So, Tyreek decided to offer his opinion of the Tua benching on X.
— Ty Hill (@cheetah) December 17, 2025
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He posted an animated gif of someone giving the “peace out” sign and then disappearing. It doesn’t take Sherlock Holmes to figure out what he was getting at.
No way Tyreek is the only Miami Dolphins player that feels this way
On one hand, no one should be all that surprised that Tyreek would post something like this. Heck, it’s not a shock when he does anything anti-team. He’s publicly asked to be sent out of town, sulked in various ways and is just generally quite a mercurial person.
But, there is no way in hell that Tyreek is the only person on the Dolphins that feels this way. Not only has Tua been horrific with this NFL-leading 15 interceptions, but he says dumb, poor-leadership stuff like this comment back in October following a loss to the Chargers.
“I think it starts with the leadership and helping articulate that for the guys, and then what we’re expecting out of the guys,” Tagovailoa said. “We’re expecting ‘this.’ Are we getting that? Are we not getting that? We have guys showing up to player-only meetings late, guys not showing up to player-only meetings. There’s a lot that goes into that.
“Do we have to make this mandatory? Do we not have to make this mandatory? It’s a lot of things of that nature that we’ve gotta get cleaned up, and it starts with the little things like that.”
These kinds of statements really drive teammates nuts when you’re losing and playing poorly yourself. It wouldn’t be shocking to see the Dolphins come out this week with a renewed sense of energy.
Oh, and Tua is due $54 million guaranteed next year. Who wants to be the general manager?! Raise your hand if you want to clean up this mess!
Miami Dolphins Players Wanted Tua Tagovailoa Benched