The Miami Dolphins will release quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, the team announced on Monday, incurring a record $99.2 million in dead money on their salary cap.

The move, which comes after the Dolphins failed to find a trade partner to take on Tagovailoa’s contract, ends a tenure marked by occasional offensive fireworks, repeated head injuries and zero playoff wins.

Tagovailoa is the fourth veteran quarterback set to hit the market once the league year begins, joining Kyler Murray, Kirk Cousins and Geno Smith. And he might have a new home quickly, as the Atlanta Falcons are expected to strongly pursue him in free agency.

Atlanta wouldn’t be able to reach a deal with Tagovailoa until Wednesday after he is officially released. After the Falcons release Cousins, third-year quarterback Michael Penix Jr. would be the only quarterback on the roster, and Penix suffered a torn ACL in Week 11 last year. It’s unknown if he’ll be ready to start in Week 1, so Tagovailoa would give them a veteran option with starting experience. Like Penix, Tagovailoa is left-handed which would make it easier for new head coach Kevin Stefanski and offensive coordinator Tommy Rees to design their offense around both quarterbacks.

The Dolphins signed Tagovailoa to a monster contract extension less than two years ago, in the summer before the 2024 season. The four-year, $212.4 million deal, which came with $167 million guaranteed, made Tagovailoa one of the highest-paid signal-callers in league history. The Dolphins went 12-13 in games Tagovailoa started after signing the deal, and the quarterback was benched by former Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel for the final three games of the 2025 season.

Parting ways with Tagovailoa — one of the first major decisions made by new general manager Jon-Eric Sullivan and coach Jeff Hafley — carries historic salary-cap ramifications. The Dolphins still owe him his fully guaranteed $54 million salary for 2026. The $99.2 million dead-cap hit left by his release, which is nearly a third of the $301.2 million cap for 2026, is $14.2 million more than the previous NFL high, when the Denver Broncos cut ties with Russell Wilson two years ago.

The Dolphins plan to split the total over the 2026 and 2027 seasons by designating Tagovailoa as a post-June 1 cut, league sources said, which cannot be done until the new league year opens Wednesday. That would apply $66.7 million in dead money in 2026 ($11.1 million more than if they had kept Tagovailoa on the roster) and $32.5 million in 2027.

The Dolphins drafted Tagovailoa with the No. 5 pick in 2020 out of Alabama. He was chosen by longtime general manager Chris Grier, who had been with the organization since 2000 and served as the general manager since 2016. Tagovailoa’s first head coach in the NFL was Brian Flores. In the weeks after Tagovailoa signed his big contract extension in 2024, he made critical comments about how he was treated by Flores upon entering the NFL.

“Well, to put it in simplest terms, if you woke up every morning and I told you, ‘You suck at what you did, that you don’t belong doing what you do, that you shouldn’t be here, that this guy should be here, that you haven’t earned this,’” Tagovailoa said. “And then you have somebody else come in (McDaniel) and tell you, ‘Dude, you are the best fit for this, like you are accurate, you are the best whatever. You are this, you are that.’ Like, how would it make you feel listening to one or the other?”

Tagovailoa’s first few NFL seasons weren’t spectacular, but they were encouraging. He posted a 6-3 record in nine starts as a rookie and went 7-5 in 2021 and 8-5 in 2022, leading the NFL in passer rating that season as Miami finished 9-8 and made the playoffs for the first time in six seasons. However, his season was marred by several head injuries, including a disturbing early-season concussion against the Cincinnati Bengals, which left him on the field demonstrating a fencing response. Tagovailoa ultimately missed the playoff game, which the Dolphins lost.

Tagovailoa played every game the next season and led the Dolphins to an 11-6 record. He led the league with 4,624 passing yards and earned Pro Bowl honors as the Dolphins made the playoffs again but again lost in the first round.

Despite durability concerns, Tagovailoa’s 2022 and 2023 seasons led Grier to give the quarterback the lucrative extension ahead of Miami’s 2024 training camp. But another concussion early that season landed him on injured reserve, and he wound up making 11 starts, in which the Dolphins went 6-5. Things only got worse in 2025, with a significant drop-off in Tagovailoa’s play. He lost his top target, wide receiver Tyreek Hill, to a gruesome injury early in the season and the Dolphins started 1-6. Tagovailoa threw a career-high 15 interceptions in 14 starts before getting benched.

Tagovailoa made headlines with his words, too. With the Dolphins 1-5, Tagovailoa publicly questioned the leadership on the team and said some of his teammates were not showing up to players-only meetings. His comments drew criticism from former players, and McDaniel was also critical of the forum Tagovailoa used to voice his concerns.

The Dolphins finished 7-10 and hold the 11th pick in the first round of the 2026 NFL Draft.

Tagovailoa’s departure is the latest in a string of major changes for the Dolphins organization. Miami fired Grier during the season, then let McDaniel go the week after the season ended. The Dolphins hired Sullivan as their new general manager and brought in Hafley, who had been the Green Bay Packers defensive coordinator, as their new head coach. When Sullivan was asked about Tagovailoa’s future with the organization in his introductory news conference, he kept his answer vague and his options open.

“I have a lot of respect for Tua,” Sullivan said then. “Whether it’s Tua or anybody else, it’s unfair and irresponsible for me to sit up here and talk about anything specific before I’ve talked to the player himself. Quarterback is the most important position in professional sports. I also think it’s the most dependent. These guys heard me say this in the interview process, we will evaluate that position like we evaluate every other position, and we will do what is best for this football team with Tua or anybody else.”

Before the decision to release Tagovailoa, the Dolphins had already parted ways with a number of key players. They traded pass rusher Jaelan Phillips to the Philadelphia Eagles at the trade deadline in November. This month, Miami also made the decision to move on from Hill and edge rusher Bradley Chubb, two major acquisitions of the previous regime.