Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel discussed the decision to bench Tua Tagovailoa and go with rookie Quinn Ewers as the team’s starting quarterback at his Wednesday press conference.
McDaniel signaled that a change was coming on Tuesday by saying that Tagovailoa’s play was not good enough in their Week 15 loss to the Steelers and word of Ewers’ move up the depth chart came on Wednesday morning. McDaniel said that he believes Ewers gives the team the best chance to win at this point in the season.
“I need convicted quarterback play,” McDaniel said. “This team needs convicted quarterback play. I thought Quinn gave us the best chance to do that and that’s why I did it.”
McDaniel also revealed that Tagovailoa will be the emergency third quarterback against the Bengals with Zach Wilson serving as the No. 2 behind Ewers. McDaniel said he believes that is “best for all parties involved,” but there is a contractual angle to keeping Tagovailoa off the field. He has a chunk of his 2027 guaranteed if he’s on the roster into the 2026 league year and the Dolphins would not be able to release him if he cannot pass a physical.
Tagovailoa’s $56.4 million cap number will make that difficult under any circumstances, but any trade thoughts would also be complicated by an injury between now and the offseason.
