THE DOLPHINS BENCHED TUA FOR A SEVENTH-ROUND ROOKIE AND NOW MIAMI IS LITERALLY ON FIRE

A $212 Million Dollar Man Just Got Sent To The Shadow Realm By A Guy Named Quinn

Look, I've seen some wild NFL decisions in my life. I watched the Browns draft Johnny Manziel. I watched the Jets sign Aaron Rodgers thinking it would fix everything. I watched the Commanders go through like 47 quarterbacks in a decade.

But the Miami Dolphins just benched Tua Tagovailoa — their franchise quarterback who they paid $212.4 MILLION DOLLARS last summer — for a seventh-round rookie named Quinn Ewers.

A SEVENTH-ROUND PICK.

You know who else was a seventh-round pick? Tom Brady. You know who Quinn Ewers is not? Tom Brady.

Let me paint this picture for you: The Dolphins looked at their quarterback room — which includes Tua Tagovailoa, Zach Wilson (yes, THAT Zach Wilson), and rookie Quinn Ewers — and said, "You know what? Give me the kid who's thrown 8 NFL passes."

Not 8 touchdowns. Not 8 games. Eight. Total. Passes.

Mike McDaniel stood at that podium Wednesday and said with a straight face: "I think Quinn gives this team the best chance to win." Brother, you are 6-8 and just got eliminated from the playoffs. The "best chance to win" ship sailed about six weeks ago.

THE NUMBERS DON'T LIE (AND THEY SPELL DISASTER)

Let's talk about why this happened, because Tua didn't just have a bad game. He had a bad SEASON.

• 15 interceptions — LEAGUE LEADER. Not what you want to lead the league in.

• -0.06 EPA per dropback — Fourth-worst in the NFL among qualified QBs

• Lowest QBR — Among starters, only Cam Ward, Geno Smith, and J.J. McCarthy are worse

• Monday night vs. Steelers: 65 passing yards through three quarters. SIXTY-FIVE.

The man who led the league with 4,624 passing yards in his Pro Bowl 2023 season has completely forgotten how to play quarterback. And I don't say that lightly. Tua was cooking two years ago. Now he's ordering DoorDash.

McDaniel spent the last month basically hiding Tua from the passing game like a parent hiding vegetables in their kid's mac and cheese. The Dolphins won four straight games by running the ball and praying. That's not sustainable, and eventually, you have to let your $53-million-per-year quarterback throw it. When they did? Disaster.

THE TYREEK HILL MEME HEARD 'ROUND THE WORLD

Within MINUTES of the benching news breaking, Tyreek Hill — who's been on IR with a torn ACL since September — posted the most chaotic response possible.

He tweeted the "guy throws up a peace sign and disappears" GIF with just a ✌🏾 emoji.

That's it. No words. Just pure, unfiltered chaos.

Now, is Tyreek saying HE'S leaving Miami? Is he saying goodbye to Tua? Is he just stirring the pot because he's bored and injured?

YES. The answer is yes to all of it.

Here's what we know: Tyreek Hill has a $36 million compensation package for 2026 with ZERO dollars guaranteed. He's also recovering from a dislocated kneecap and torn ACL. He also asked to be traded last offseason before changing his mind. He also mysteriously left Tua off his "top 5 NFL quarterbacks" list earlier this year despite calling him "the most accurate passer in the NFL" when he first got traded to Miami.

The vibes in that building are RANCID. You can smell it from here.

ZACH WILSON IS BIG MAD (AND HONESTLY, SAME)

Here's where it gets even funnier. The Dolphins have THREE quarterbacks:

1. Tua Tagovailoa — $53 million per year, benched

2. Zach Wilson — Former #2 overall pick, been in the league four years, NOT starting

3. Quinn Ewers — Seventh-round rookie with 8 career pass attempts, STARTING

Zach Wilson, the man who famously didn't "see ghosts" at the worst possible time and then tried to blame his offensive line and then maybe had an inappropriate relationship and then got traded to Denver and then got traded AGAIN to Miami... that guy just got leapfrogged by the third-stringer.

Wilson told reporters he's "frustrated" by the decision.

FRUSTRATED? My brother, you were the second overall pick in 2021. You've been in the league FOUR YEARS. You're backing up a guy who was a SEVENTH-ROUNDER. At what point do you just have to accept that maybe you're not it?

The Dolphins looked at Wilson's tape and said "nah, give us the Texas kid who threw 24 interceptions in college." That's BRUTAL.

THE FINANCIAL NIGHTMARE THAT AWAITS

Okay, here's where I need you to sit down. Maybe grab a drink.

Tua Tagovailoa's contract is an absolute PRISON for the Dolphins. Check these numbers:

• 2026 cap hit: $56.4 million

• 2027 cap hit: $53.4 million

• 2028 cap hit: $65.8 million

• Dead cap if cut before June 1: $99.2 MILLION

That's not a typo. If the Dolphins cut Tua this offseason, they eat NINETY-NINE MILLION DOLLARS in dead cap. That's more than most teams' entire quarterback budget for three years.

And if they cut BOTH Tua and Tyreek Hill before June 1?

$127.4 million in combined dead money.

You literally cannot build a roster with that hanging over your head. The Dolphins might have to just keep Tua on the roster in 2026 and pray he remembers how to play, or trade him for whatever they can get (probably a conditional sixth-rounder and a sleeve of golf balls), or just declare organizational bankruptcy.

This is what happens when you pay a guy who's had multiple concussion scares and an inconsistent track record like he's Patrick Mahomes. The Dolphins bet HUGE on Tua last summer, and that bet just completely crapped out at the table.

WHAT HAPPENS NOW?

Quinn Ewers gets three games to prove he's the future. He plays the Bengals, 49ers, and Jets to close out the season. If he balls out? Maybe the Dolphins found their answer at pick 229 of the draft. If he stinks? They're right back where they started, except now Tua knows they don't believe in him.

Mike McDaniel is almost certainly coaching for his job. The "offensive genius" has watched his offense completely implode, his franchise QB regress into a turnover machine, and his $30 million receiver tear his ACL four games into the season. That's not great!

Tyreek Hill is probably gone. Whether via trade, release, or just walking away from that monster contract, he's not catching passes from Quinn Ewers in 2026.

And Tua? The saddest part is that this was supposed to be the BOUNCE-BACK year. He was healthy. He had weapons. He had a coach who was supposed to maximize him. Instead, he's sitting on the bench watching a rookie take his job while the franchise figures out how to escape the financial sinkhole they created.

The Dolphins were 1.5 games out of a Super Bowl appearance two years ago. They had the fastest offense in football. They had Tua and Tyreek and Waddle and Achane and it felt like they were building something special.

Now? They're about to blow it all up and start over.

THE FINAL WORD

The Miami Dolphins just became the most fascinating dumpster fire in the NFL, and I genuinely cannot look away.

A $212 million quarterback benched for a seventh-rounder.

A $30 million receiver posting cryptic goodbye memes.

A former #2 overall pick stuck as QB3.

A head coach whose seat is actively combusting.

And a salary cap situation so catastrophic it should be studied in business schools as a warning.

This is what happens when you mortgage your future for a window that never opens. The Dolphins swung for the fences, missed badly, and now they're staring down a rebuild with no picks, no cap space, and no answers.

Welcome to South Beach, Quinn Ewers. Hope you like pressure.

— Lawn Chair Sports

The opinions expressed here are extremely correct and if you disagree, that's fine, but you're wrong.