Dolphins Not Offering QB Tua Tagovailoa ‘Market’ Deal Right Now

ESPN’s Jeff Darlington reports that so far his understanding is the Dolphins have not offered QB Tua Tagovailoa a contract in line with the rest of the market. 

The Lions signed QB Jared Goff to a deal worth $53 million a year and the Jaguars inked QB Trevor Lawrence to a contract worth $55 million a year. Those deals ranked second and tied for first in terms of average annual salary at the quarterback position. 

Darlington says he doesn’t know specific numbers but he does know the Dolphins have not put an offer on the table in the same ballpark as Goff and Lawrence. 

Omar Kelly and Pro Football Talk have also heard the Dolphins have not offered Tagovailoa a market-level deal. Kelly believes they won’t, while Darlington points out there’s still plenty of time left in the negotiating process but acknowledges he’s a little more pessimistic about the prospects of a deal than he has been in the past. 

ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler previously reported the two sides were “in the ballpark” of getting something done and Miami remained committed to trying to sign Tagovailoa long-term. 

Tagovailoa had some telling comments at the end of the Dolphins’ offseason program where he talked about being “antsy” for a deal to get done and told reporters “the market is the market.”

He’s entering the final year of his rookie contract and is coming off a career year where he led the NFL in passing yards in 2023. 

Tagovailoa, 26, 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. 

In 2023, Tagovailoa appeared in all 17 games for the Dolphins and completed 69.3 percent of his passes for 4,624 yards, 29 touchdowns and 14 interceptions.

We’ll have more on Tagovailoa as the news is available.