What Walking Away Would Mean for Tua Tagovailoa’s Contract

Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa suffered another scary concussion in a Thursday night loss against the Bills. Rather than sliding after a run, Tagovailoa put his shoulder down, and his helmet made first contact with Bills safety Damar Hamlin’s body. The quarterback fell to the ground and immediately displayed signs of a concussion.

Tagovailoa incurred a string of head injuries in the 2022 season that drew national attention and led to changes in the NFL’s concussion protocol. Heading into the 2023 season, he started training with a jiujitsu coach to learn how to better protect his head when falling. He played in every Dolphins game last year.

Tagovailoa said on The Dan Le Batard Show last month he had considered retirement, an option mainly pushed by his mother, after his head injuries in 2022. Now, fans, media members, and former players are calling for the quarterback to take care of himself. “NFL go ahead and do the right thing,” former NFL player Dez Bryant tweeted. “He need to retire for his longevity health concerns.”

If Tagovailoa, 26, were to retire, what would that mean for the four-year, $212.4 million contract extension he signed with Miami in July?

A large $167.1 million chunk of Tagovailoa’s deal is guaranteed, so about $42 million of that has already been paid out this year. According to Michael Ginnitti of Spotrac, if Tagovailoa is cleared but chooses to retire, he gives up the rest of the $124 million, unless he tries to get it back through a settlement. If he is forced to medically retire, he can claim that $124 million.

“The other side of this equation gets a little tougher,” Ginnitti tweeted. “If Tua is able to pass a physical next March, the Dolphins will have the ability to release him, with ‘only’ his $50M of 2025 compensation on the hook.” 

He added that the $54 million the Dolphins would owe him in 2026 will become guaranteed March 14, and releasing Tagovailoa anytime after June would result in $83.6 million of dead cap over the final two seasons of his deal.

Ginnitti tells Front Office Sports that a player with a contract like Tagovailoa’s hasn’t been in a situation like this before. The most recent comparison is Andrew Luck, who retired instead of signing a big deal, but got to keep more than $16 million from the Colts on his way out.

“My assumption is that players want to play. It’s all they’ve done in life to date,” Ginnitti says. “My guess is, despite this being the fourth major head injury, that Tua is cleared by next March. This puts the pressure on the Dolphins to continue forward (knowing that another $54M will lock in on March 14), or outright release him. Another possibility could be that both sides come together and discuss a renegotiated contract that protects the team a little more if Tua is looking to continue his career.”

Whatever the quarterback and team decide to do about his contract, the first step for Tagovailoa is healing, and for the Dolphins, it’s preparing to play the Seahawks on Sept. 22. Should Tagovailoa sit out, head coach Mike McDaniel said he has the “utmost confidence” in backup Skylar Thompson, who started three games in 2022.