The Miami Dolphins aren’t often in the NFL spotlight, but they will get to see a little bit of the shine on Sunday when they take on the Kansas City Chiefs.
That brings about questions from fans around the league, and with the Dolphins this season, quarterback is a big part of it. After a long tenure with the Dolphins, Tua Tagovailoa now has a new team.
The Dolphins are rolling with Malik Willis at quarterback. They signed him in free agency from the Green Bay Packers.
Tagovailoa, meanwhile, plays for the Atlanta Falcons. Well, he’s on the Falcons — he actually hasn’t gotten into a regular season game yet.
It was a calculated decision by the Dolphins to move on.
Why Don’t Dolphins Have Tua Tagovailoa?
The Dolphins got rid of Tagovailoa in the offseason for salary cap reasons.
When they cut Tua, this is what ESPN wrote about the move:
“As Sullivan and first-year head coach Jeff Hafley look to reset the team’s culture with their own vision, Tagovailoa was a looming relic of the previous regime with an expensive contract as he was guaranteed $54 million this season.”
Tagovailoa has had injury troubles, and then he threw a career-worst 15 interceptions in 2025.
The Dolphins saw a huge contract in front of them and didn’t care that cutting Tagovailoa would come with almost nine-figure dead cap money.
They wanted to move on from the lefty, and so they did.
“His (2025) season was also marred by multiple faux pas in his dealings with the media,” ESPN wrote of Tagovailoa, “and he angered teammates when he publicly called unnamed players out for being late to player-led film sessions.”
What’s Tua Doing Now?
Tagovailoa is a part of the Falcons’ crowded QB depth chart in Atlanta.
He’s currently the backup to fellow lefty Michael Penix Jr.
It’s been an uneven start, though. Tagovailoa was actually going to be the Week 1 starter, but then he hurt his oblique in the Thursday practice before that Sunday game.
Tagovailoa had to be held out in favor of Cooper Rush, which repeated itself in Week 2.
By Week 3 Thursday Night Football, Penix (knee) was also healthy, and so he started and led the Falcons to a win over the Packers. Tagovailoa was active for the first time, as well, but just as the QB2.
It seems that at this point, the only reason Tagovailoa would have to play would be if Penix gets hurt again — and given his knee injury history, that might happen.
In the meantime, Willis hasn’t been great for the Dolphins, but they likely still don’t regret moving on from Tagovailoa.
Why Dolphins Don’t Have Tua Tagovailoa At QB Anymore