By Dianna Russini, Jeff Howe and Saad Yousuf

Two days after the Miami Dolphins were officially eliminated from the playoffs, they are making a change at quarterback. On Wednesday, Miami benched Tua Tagovailoa, who is less than two years removed from signing a four-year extension that averaged $53.1 million, in favor of 2025 seventh-round pick Quinn Ewers, a team source said.

Tagovailoa went 6-8 as the Dolphins’ starter this season, completing 67.7 percent of his passes for 20 touchdowns and 15 interceptions. His 36.7 quarterback ranking is 30th in the NFL, behind New York Jets quarterback Justin Fields and just ahead of the Minnesota Vikings’ J.J. McCarthy.

Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel said Zach Wilson will back up Ewers, and Tagovailoa will be the third-string quarterback.

“Quinn gives this team the best chance to win. Our focus is obviously to win the next three games,” McDaniel said.

In addition to benching Tagovailoa, the Dolphins are releasing veteran pass rusher Matt Judon, according to team and league sources. Judon played in 13 games (three starts) and logged 19 tackles after signing a one-year, $3 million deal with the team in August.

Miami drafted Tagovailoa out of Alabama with the No. 5 pick in 2020. Though he was never one of the NFL’s top signal callers, Tagovailoa showed promising signs throughout his early years, leading the NFL in passer rating (105.5) in 2022 and in passing yards (4,624) in 2023. There were injury concerns about Tagovailoa, particularly with his history of concussions, but he was solid when on the field. That led to the Dolphins handing Tagovailoa a large extension in July 2024.

This season has been rough for the quarterback on multiple fronts, including having his worst season on the field. Tagovailoa made headlines two months ago for his comments in a postgame news conference, calling out Miami’s player leadership, of which he is arguably the face. Tagovailoa followed that up with an apology for his comments a few days later, which was also not received well due to the tone it struck.

Tagovailoa lost his top receiving target in Week 4 when wide receiver Tyreek Hill suffered a gruesome season-ending knee injury.

Now, Miami turns to Ewers, who has played in only one game this season, a Week 7 loss to the Cleveland Browns. Ewers completed five of eight passes for 53 yards and was sacked twice.

Wilson, the No. 2 pick by the Jets in 2021, has been Miami’s backup quarterback this season and appeared in three games. Wilson backed up Tagovailoa in Monday night’s game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, while Ewers was the inactive third-string emergency quarterback. Wilson signed with the Dolphins on a one-year deal this spring, so he’ll be a free agent after this season.

When asked why he’s starting Ewers over Wilson, who has three seasons of experience as the Jets’ starter, McDaniel said Ewers brings “convicted quarterback play.”

“I don’t trivialize seasons (or) games,” McDaniel said. “This 2025 team needed me to make the decision solely for what gives us the best chance to win. That includes all players. … This team needs convicted quarterback play. I thought Quinn gave us the best chance to do that, and that’s what I did.”

Tagovailoa’s benching brings his future in Miami into question. His contract extension puts the Dolphins in a tough situation because cutting Tagovailoa outright would result in taking on a $99.2 million dead cap for 2026. That means 35 percent of the team’s 2026 cap would be taken up by a player no longer on the roster.

If the Dolphins made Tagovailoa a post-June 1 cut, they could spread the hit out a little bit but would still incur a $67.4 million dead money charge in 2026 and a $31.8 million dead money charge in 2027.