The Miami Dolphins and Arizona Cardinals may find themselves playing in opposite conferences each season, but the two franchises find themselves in a similar tough predicament this offseason when it comes to their current star quarterbacks.
Both teams are looking to move on from their once franchise signal callers but the contracts of Miami‘s Tua Tagovailoa and Arizona‘s Kyler Murray have the two teams facing some rather big challenges when approaching the trade market.
According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, the Dolphins are willing to pay down a portion of Tagovailoa’s contract to help facilitate a trade but that still makes any trade involving Tagovailoa, who was benched in the final few games of the season, financially challenging.
Tagovailoa inked a four-year, $212.1 million contract extension in July 2024, with Miami already owing him $54 million guaranteed in 2026, and another $3 million of Tagovailoa’s 2027 salary becomes guaranteed on the fifth day of the new league year March 15.
The Dolphins cutting Tagovailoa would leave a record-setting $99 million in dead money, but designating Tagovailoa as a post-June 1st cut would spread the money out over the next two years, still a massive financial hit.
The Cardinals could release Murray prior to June 1st but would take on $54.7 in dead money while designating the former top draft pick as a post-June 1st cut would also spread that hit over the next two years. However, trading Murray would create $34.7 million in cap savings for the Cardinals while leaving behind $17.9 million in dead money.
Both teams seem eager to move on from their former franchise quarterbacks but there is an obvious hefty cost for doing business.
