Dolphins Finally Make the Change We've All Been Waiting for

It finally happened. A project of 6 years has finally begun to close. Earlier today, Mike McDaniel made the official announcement that Tua will be benched for Quinn Ewers in Week 16 against the Bengals (and sounds like for the rest of the season).

I cannot tell you how much I love this move. As I wrote a few weeks ago, once the Dolphins are out of the playoffs, I see absolutely no reason not to start Quinn Ewers for the rest of the season to see if the Dolphins have anything in him. At this point, there’s absolutely nothing to lose and everything to gain.

Even after McDaniel opened the door to Tua’s benching yesterday when he said "everything is on the table" at the quarterback position, I was still scared that the Dolphins would not pull the trigger. From the outside view that I have, it still looks like Mike McDaniel is a massive source of confidence for Tua. It’s already known that he was the one who built Tua’s confidence back up after the horrible Brian Flores debacle, so we know Coach McDaniel had a big part in building Tua up. And we saw that play out on the field for a few years, too. But even going into this year and beyond, it looks like McDaniel is still a big part of Tua’s confidence. I know Tua is a quiet guy and his confidence on the outside may not necessarily reflect how he feels on the inside, but from an outsider’s perspective it looks like McDaniel is still influencing a lot in him. As a result of that, I was scared that McDaniel would not pull the trigger, fearing what it could do to Tua for his career and his life. But nonetheless, the Dolphins did the smart thing and made the right decision to bench him. I’m sure Tua is much more confident than I’m giving him credit for anyway, so I don’t know how much of a concern that really was.

Everyone is talking about how this is for sure the end of Tua’s relationship with the Dolphins, but I’m not as convinced. What exactly are the other options? Let’s say Quinn Ewers doesn’t work out and ends up truly being seventh-round talent. Now what? I really don’t think the Dolphins are going to cut Tua after this season due to the nearly-$100 million dead cap hit that would cost them. That is a ridiculous amount of money, even for a billionaire owner.

We already talked about the Kyler Murray idea and why I don’t think that’s a good one. And who else is out there? Is Joe Burrow going to be on the table? If he is, is it worth it to take on his contract when he’s seemingly always injured? Yes, he is head-and-shoulders above Tua and he’s up there with the best quarterbacks in football, but I don’t know if Dolphins ownership is going to be thrilled about taking on the contract of another injury-prone quarterback. So what are the other options? Kirk Cousins? That's no better than Tua.

The only real path is the draft, but thanks to their four-game win streak, they’re probably not going to be picking in the top 10. Can they find a franchise quarterback outside of the top 10? I’m not convinced. I think the only realistic idea is to trade up. Trading up with the Titans or the Giants would give them a good chance to land Mendoza, Dante Moore or Ty Simpson, but how much are they going to have to give up for that pick? Probably a lot of future draft capital. And if the Dolphins are heading toward a rebuild over the next few years, giving up that much draft capital for a quarterback may not be the smartest move.

What I’m trying to say with all of this is that even though things are clearly headed toward a divorce between the Dolphins and Tua, I don’t think it’s set in stone. Yet. 

But I will say it again: It was a very good decision by the Dolphins. It’s a no-risk, high-reward plan, and one the Dolphins absolutely needed to implement. Now let’s see what happens over these next few weeks.