{"id":475274,"date":"2026-02-18T05:50:07","date_gmt":"2026-02-18T05:50:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/475274\/"},"modified":"2026-02-18T05:50:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-18T05:50:07","slug":"some-wonder-whether-dolphins-will-take-full-99-2-million-cap-charge-for-tua-tagovailoa-in-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/475274\/","title":{"rendered":"Some wonder whether Dolphins will take full $99.2 million cap charge for Tua Tagovailoa in 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Dolphins have a decision to make about quarterback Tua Tagovailoa. Few expect him to return as the starting quarterback for 2026.<\/p>\n

Thanks, however, to the ill-advised contract that former G.M. Chris Grier gave Tagovailoa in 2024, when he was still signed for one more season, the Dolphins owe him $54 million in the coming year, with every penny fully guaranteed.<\/p>\n

If the Dolphins cut Tagovailoa, they would absorb $99.2 million in cap charges. If they make Tagovailoa a post-June 1 designation, they\u2019d be able to split the cap charges, with $55.4 million applying in 2026 and $43.8 million landing in 2027. <\/p>\n

If the Dolphins opt not to use the device that spreads the cap consequences over two years, they\u2019d take the full $99.2 million cap charge this year. That would clear him from the books for 2027.<\/p>\n

Some in league circles think the Dolphins may do just that. Eat the full $99.2 million now. With the cap for 2026 projected to fall between $301.2 million and $305.7 million<\/a> for the coming year, anywhere from 32.4 percent to 32.9 percent of the team\u2019s total cap space would be allocated to Tagovailoa.<\/p>\n

Taking the full charge in 2026 would fairly be characterized as a soft tank. By deferring $43.8 million into 2027, when the cap likely will be higher, the relative impact of the dollars would be smaller than it will be in 2026.<\/p>\n

Still, it\u2019s one of the options available to the Dolphins. If they release Tagovailoa without the post-June 1 designation, that\u2019s what will happen \u2014 $99.2 million in dead money hitting the 2026 cap. Which would make it harder for the Dolphins to field a competitive team this year, but would put Tagovailoa\u2019s contract in the rear-view mirror as of 2027.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Dolphins have a decision to make about quarterback Tua Tagovailoa. Few expect him to return as the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":475275,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[63],"tags":[349,99],"class_list":["post-475274","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-nfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/475274","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=475274"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/475274\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/475275"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=475274"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=475274"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=475274"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}