Miami Dolphins Cutting High Priced Tyreek Hill, Bradley Chubb, And All Eyes Turn To Tua Tagovailoa

The Miami Dolphins are authoring something of a President's Day roster massacre – cutting former Pro Bowl receiver Tyreek Hill and former Pro Bowl linebacker Bradley Chubb and other players – even as a decision on quarterback Tua Tagovailoa looms.

The Dolphins informed Chubb of their intentions to release him early Monday, a source told OutKick. An hour or so later, the team informed the agent for Hill he was also being released, per a source.

Oct 22, 2023; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Miami Dolphins defensive tackle Zach Sieler (92), linebacker Bradley Chubb (2) and linebacker Jaelan Phillips (15) against the Philadelphia Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field. Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports

Dolphins Dead Cap A Mess

And these two moves come with substantial salary cap implications.

Just because Hill and Chubb are out doesn't clear the Dolphins of a cap cost. Unless the club designates one or both of these moves as a June 1 move, the Dolphins will still carry nearly $52 million in combined dead cap space for the privilege of releasing Hill ($28 million dead cap) and Chubb ($23.8 million dead cap).

The Dolphins are also releasing offensive guard James Daniels, per a source, and there are multiple reports receiver Nick Westbrook-Ikhine is also being released.

So, the total dead cap for the four players the Dolphins might be carrying in 2026 is in the neighborhood of $58.2 million.

So why are the Dolphins doing this? Because there is also a cap savings which is actually added cap burden the team is avoiding beyond the dead cap cost. That avoided financial burden is considered a savings.

The Dolphins are "saving" approximately $30 million with these transactions.

(Photo by Brian Rothmuller/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

Hill, Chubb Does Provide Relief

That was important for a club that was slated to be some $17 million over the cap for 2026 when the new league year begins March 11.

The Dolphins, in cutting Hill and Chubb, rid themselves of their second- and third-highest players on their cap structure. 

And now the focus turns to what Miami will do with quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, who carries the team's highest cap charge for 2026 at $56.2 million.

The Dolphins have a plan under new general manager Jon-Eric Sullivan and coach Jeff Hafley for Tagovailoa. But they haven't shared it with OutKick.

Or anyone else, at this stage.

There is much speculation the new braintrust will try to trade Tagovailoa (good luck with that) or simply release him. That is unconfirmed. 

And expensive.

Miami Dolphins QB Tua Tagovailoa throws a pass vs. the Buffalo Bills at Hard Rock Stadium in Florida. (Photo credit: Sam Navarro-Imagn Images) 

Tua Tagovailoa Big Decision

Tagovailoa carries $99 million in dead money if he is released prior to June 1 and there is no scenario where his release saves the club cap space. Even a post-June 1 designation release would leave $11 million in cap cost.

And it would also leave the Dolphins looking very much like a team about to tank the 2026 season because that would leave Miami with Quinn Ewers and Cam Miller as the only quarterbacks on the roster. And those two hardly offer the kind of QB competition the new coach and GM promised.

The Dolphins wouldn't have a ton of cap space to sign a top free agent quarterback such as Malik Willis.  And because they've been perpetually existing in an annual 7-10-win cycle, they don't have high picks to select an elite quarterback prospect in the first round – with this year's pick coming at No. 11.

So, it is also possible the Dolphins just grin, bear it, and keep Tagovailoa for 2026. They can now afford to do that with the player who underperformed in 2025 to the extent he was benched.

This may actually be the most logical answer.

But regardless what Miami does, nothing looks like a path to anything other than a rebuild.

Releasing Tagovailoa would mean the team could be attempting a redo of the tank thing – which was tried and failed in 2019.

Dolphins owner Stephen Ross (left) talks with general manager Chris Grier before a game in November 2022.

Will Stephen Ross Order Another Tank?

(There were many stories about the Dolphins tanking in 2019 and denying they were doing so. But the fact is they stripped the roster of all its stars before the season, then traded away more talent once the season began. The tanking allegation was proven when then-coach Brian Flores sued the team, NFL and others and one of the allegations in the suit was that owner Stephen Ross wanted him to lose more to get a higher draft pick in 2020. Ross allegedly offered Flores $100,000 more per loss.)

So is the same Ross who ordered the 2019 tank going to try it again?

The facts will bear that out.

It's obvious that the new braintrust believes Miami's core set of players have mostly seen their best days. 

Those probably came in 2022 and 2023 when then general manager Chris Grier gave up five draft picks for Hill, including a first- and second-rounder in 2022. And at the trade deadline that year, he traded away a 2023 first-round pick for Chubb.

Interestingly, the teams with which the Dolphins made those trades went on to better things – the Chiefs winning multiple Super Bowls, and the Broncos using their extra pick to trade for coach Sean Payton and playing in the AFC Championship Game last season.

Sullivan and Hafley have made it clear they intend to take no shortcuts to rebuilding the team. That means drafting better. It also means making more wise decisions in free agency – last year Miami signed Daniels coming off a major injury, and he suffered another major injury in the season opener.

The President's Day massacre was apparently part of the plan.