According to Adam Schefter, as the Cardinals and Dolphins navigate the upcoming offseason, both organizations have a preference of being able to trade incumbent starting QBs Kyler Murray and Tua Tagovailoa.
The catch is that Arizona and Miami will have to find teams willing to take on their contracts, even if both teams are willing to pay down some of the cost themselves.
Tagovailoa is owed a staggering $54 million guaranteed in 2026, and the Dolphins will not have an easy time moving on with that kind of guarantee remaining in his contract. Releasing Tagovailoa would result in a $99 million dead money salary cap charge, which would be the largest in NFL history.
Schefter says the Dolphins are willing to pay down a portion of that number to facilitate a trade but given how poorly Tagovailoa played last year, leading to his benching, it’s not clear how much of a market he’d have for even half that amount.
Still, the expectation remains that Tagovailoa and the Dolphins will part ways this offseason, whatever path that takes.
Murray has $36.8 million in guarantees for 2026 already and earns another $19.5 million in 2027 guarantees in March. Arizona can cut Murray to avoid the latter, but it would trigger an overall dead money charge of $57 million.
Trading Murray would save nearly $35 million in cap space, making it a much better alternative for the Cardinals as long as they can find a taker. The asking price for Murray is expected to start at around a second or third-round pick. The Cardinals might have to pick up some of the tab to get that kind of return, however.
Before the Cardinals fired HC Jonathan Gannon, it seemed certain that the former No. 1 pick had played his last snap in Arizona.
Murray sprained his foot in Week 5 and was kept on the active roster for a month. He seemed on the verge of returning before the Cardinals abruptly pivoted and named veteran Jacoby Brissett the starter, placing Murray on injured reserve. He missed the remainder of the season.
Tagovailoa, 27, was selected with the No. 5 overall pick out of Alabama in 2020 by the Dolphins. He signed a four-year, $30,275,438 rookie contract with a $19,578,501 signing bonus. He earned a base salary of $1,010,000 in the final year of his deal.
The Dolphins picked up Tagovailoa’s fifth-year option worth $23,171,000 for the 2024 season.
From there, the team re-signed him to a four-year deal worth up to $212 million that included $167 million guaranteed.
In 2025, Tagovailoa appeared in 14 games for the Dolphins and completed 67.7 percent of his passes for 2,660 yards, 20 touchdowns, and 15 interceptions.
Murray, 28, was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2019 NFL Draft by the Cardinals after making the decision to pursue an NFL career, despite being drafted in the first round by the Oakland A’s in 2018.
Murray signed a four-year, $35,158,644 deal that included a $23,589,924 signing bonus. The Cardinals officially exercised his fifth-year option, which is projected to be worth $29.7 million for the 2023 season.
Murray then signed a five-year, $230.5 million extension that includes $160 million guaranteed with Arizona back in 2022.
In 2025, Murray appeared in five games for the Cardinals and completed 68.3 percent of his passes for 962 yards, six touchdowns, and three interceptions. He also rushed for 173 yards and a touchdown.
We’ll have more on Murray and Tagovailoa as the news is available.
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