03/09/26 05:13:00
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03/09 16:16 CDT The Dolphins become the latest team to take on a big dead cap
charge with $99.2M for Tua Tagovailoa
The Dolphins become the latest team to take on a big dead cap charge with
$99.2M for Tua Tagovailoa
By JOSH DUBOW
AP Pro Football Writer
The Miami Dolphins are moving on from Tua Tagovailoa but his contract will
still be an albatross on the team for two more seasons.
The Dolphins announced their plans Monday to cut Tua Tagovailoa --- less than
two years after he signed a $212 million extension with the club --- in a move
that will leave a record $99.2 million of dead money on Miami's salary cap.
The charge for Tagovailoa can be split over the 2026 and ?27 seasons if the
Dolphins designate him to be cut after June 1 but nevertheless it will have to
hit the team's salary cap, topping the $85 million charge Denver took when
cutting Russell Wilson two years ago.
A dead money charge is any money on a team's salary cap for a player no longer
on the roster. In most cases, the dead money charges come from signing bonus
money that has already been paid to a player but was pro-rated for multiple
years on the salary cap to lower the single-year charge.
Teams can spread out bonuses for up to five years --- with the charge being
split evenly among those years --- but that charge accelerates to the salary
cap when a team trades or releases a player before it has all hit the cap.
In Tagovailoa's case, there was also $54 million in guaranteed salary for 2026
for which the Dolphins are still responsible. Tagovailoa has already found a
new team, agreeing with the Atlanta Falcons on a one-year deal, a person with
knowledge of the quarterback's contract told The Associated Press on Monday.
The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the contract can't be
finalized until the new league year begins on Wednesday.
Tagovailoa is expected to get a little more than $1 million for the veteran
minimum salary, which will eventually be credited to Miami's salary cap.
NFL teams have been more willing in recent years to take on hefty dead money
charges as the salary cap keeps rising at a high rate, making the move less
punitive than it used to be.
Here's a look at some of the largest dead money cap hits NFL teams have
incurred after moving on from players, with numbers from the website Over The
Cap:
Tua Tagovailoa, $99.2 million, Miami
The Dolphins got very little production out of Tagovailoa after the hefty
contract extension they handed him in the 2024 offseason. Tagovailoa had been
under contract on the fifth-year option of his rookie deal for $23.2 million in
2024 and the team could have used a franchise tag of about $38 million for 2025
instead of giving him an extension.
Instead, Tagovailoa will be paid nearly $125 million for that one extra season
in which he made 14 starts, throwing for 2,660 yards and 20 TDs as the Dolphins
finished 7-10 and fired both general manager Chris Grier and coach Mike
McDaniel.
Russell Wilson, $85 million, Denver
The Broncos traded two first-round picks and two seconds to acquire Wilson from
Seattle in the 2022 offseason and rewarded him with a five-year, $245 million
extension before he took a snap for the team, even though he had two years
remaining on his contract.
Wilson never even made it to the new deal, getting cut after his second season
with the Broncos. Wilson was paid about $124 million for his two seasons in
Denver before signing with Pittsburgh for the minimum in 2024. Wilson counted
for $53 million on the cap for the Broncos in 2024 and $32 million last season
when Denver still managed to earn the No. 1 seed and make it to the AFC title
game.
Kyler Murray, $54.7 million, Arizona
Tagovailoa wasn't the first high-profile quarterback to be told he would be cut
this offseason despite a heavy cap charge. The Cardinals did it last week with
Murray.
The former No. 1 overall pick in 2019 signed a five-year, $230.5 million
extension in 2022 that still had $36.8 million in guaranteed money for 2026.
Arizona is on the hook for that, as well as additional money from bonuses
already paid, leading to the $54.7 million dead cap charge.
Matt Ryan, $40.5 million, Atlanta
Ryan had been the longtime face of the Falcons when the team traded him to
Indianapolis in 2022 after the relationship soured when the team made a run at
acquiring Deshaun Watson.
Getting rid of Ryan came at a cost as the team had repeatedly pushed money from
the five-year, $150 million extension he signed in 2018 into the future and had
to account for it all in 2022.
Daniel Jones, $33.3 million, New York Giants
After reaching the divisional round in the 2022 playoffs, the Giants rewarded
Jones with a four-year, $160 million contract to keep him off the free agent
market and used the franchise tag on star running back Saquon Barkley.
Both were gone in less than two years, with Barkley signing with Philadelphia
the following offseason and leading the Eagles to a Super Bowl title, while
Jones was cut midway through his second season. Jones had earned $36 million in
2024 at the time he was cut, with $11.1 million more hitting the cap as dead
money, along with $22.2 million last season.
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