The Miami Dolphins‘ new front office, led by Jon-Eric Sullivan, decided to cut ties with Tua Tagovailoa. Moreover, Sullivan’s decision led to the Dolphins absorbing a staggering $99.2 million in dead cap.
Still, Miami will split the dead money over two years, as it is in Year 1 of its rebuild. After his release from the Dolphins, Tagovailoa signed with the Atlanta Falcons and will look to win the QB competition to determine the starter.
While Tagovailoa appears to have a fresh start in Atlanta, the former first-round pick spoke about the emotional rollercoaster he went through after last season and Miami’s decision to cut ties with him this past offseason.
“I would say the real aspect of it is, one, it’s hard,” Tagovailoa said in an Aug. 18 video from SiriusXM NFL Radio. “There’s no other way to work around that. You can try to trick yourself into thinking it’s not as hard as what you’re thinking, but it’s hard to go through something like that.
“One thing that I ended up taking from Coach [Nick] Saban that stuck with me as I was going through that process, being benched last year, not being able to finish out the season with the guys, and then obviously being released by the Dolphins and then being a free agent was, things don’t happen to you; they happen for you. And that kind of stuck with me.”
Tua Tagovailoa Doesn’t Believe His NFL Career Is Over
Furthermore, despite his time with the Dolphins being over, Tagovailoa doesn’t believe his NFL career is over.
“I don’t know what happened, what had happened, what that was going to be for me throughout this,” Tagovailoa added. “But I think the thing is, it’s not over. The journey’s not over. It happened for you. There’s something good that has to come out of this.
“Whether it’s playing well, whether it’s something with a teammate, regardless of what it is, something good has to come out of it. And I think throughout that, you gotta have perspective, especially in this league. You gotta have perspective. If you don’t have perspective, I think it makes it tough to where you find your identity in only football.”
Ex-Dolphins OC Believes Tua Tagovailoa Can Find Success
It was a challenging preseason opener for Tagovailoa. The former Dolphins QB was 3-for-5 on his pass attempts for 22 passing yards. Nonetheless, even with that performance, former Dolphins offensive coordinator Frank Smith (2022-25) shared his thoughts in May on whether the ex-Miami QB can find success in Atlanta.
“If he keeps staying true to himself and maintains who he is, along with that conviction and belief in himself and how he needs to play to be at his best, he can be as good as he wants to be because he’s shown he can do it,” Smith told Terron Armstead on the May 21 edition of “The Set.”
“He can reach the ceiling of ability in this league and play at an extremely high level. It’s about what you learn through the journey and your time there because when you experience the highs and lows, if you learn from it, it makes you stronger. You’re only going to be better from that time.”
Tua Tagovailoa Doesn’t Hold Back on Dolphins Departure