Finsmob Unleashed

We all have opinions, and here on this blog, we all share them. We also share what NFL “Insiders” and our own Miami Dolphins Beat Reporters say and think. I’ve certainly been sharing my own strong opinions as well, and today I’m going to compare and contrast mine to the others and plead my case for how I would like the Miami Dolphins to go forward into next season.

Please understand that despite the fact that I wish otherwise, I understand QB Tua Tagovailoa is still under contract not only in 2026, but in 2027 as well. The OUT is easier to accomplish in ’27, but let’s face facts, you’re paying Tua through 2026 whether he’s playing, or whether he’s playing, or whether he’s holding a clipboard for a young newly drafted QB. I understand why the talking heads say “Tua Tagovailoa will be the starting QB in 2026 because his cap hit is $56.4M and his dead cap hit is $99.2M. OK, so you know I’m aware of that, and I still stand firm in saying that doesn’t guarantee that Tua has to be the starting QB on Day 1 of the ’26 season, and for sure, not the entire ’26 season.

It happens in all sports, not just the NFL, when your team is paying a player tons of money, they want that player out there to try and get your money’s worth. Some teams though realize if that player isn’t really helping your team, and you have a better option, you can make it happen, and despite still paying that painful salary, you can sit that QB and play the QB of the future instead, and get the timeline started more quickly for your future QB. The Atlanta Falcons are doing just that right now with QB Kirk Cousins who’s cap hit is $40M. QB Michael Penix started the season, although starting QB Michael Penix is making on $5.2M. Of course now Michael Penix is injured and Qb Kirk Cousins is playing now, but the Falcons did what was best for the team, not for the talking heads. They benched the guy making the money to try and make things better, both for now, and for the future. To be fair, it didn’t work out as well as Atlanta hoped, but they stuck to their guns and stayed with the plan. The Penix led Falcons were 3-6 and the Cousins led Falcons are 0-1. Cousins will be the Qb going forward because QB Michael Penix had season ending knee surgery.

The point here is, it can be done, and now I’m going to plead my case as to why it should be done here for the Miami Dolphins in 2026. I know everyone here thinks I hate Tua, but mostly I’m just tired of everything being ABOUT Tua. Truth is, he’s not worth that. He’s about average for the most part, and he’s proven time and time again, that he simply is not good enough to carry this team if either the O-line isn’t near perfect, his receivers drop a pass, or we don’t rush for well over 100 yards, and the defense has to play superior football and not give up more than 20 points, because that’s what we’re scoring this season, 20.5 PPG.

Whether it’s on “X” (The App Formerly known as Twitter), or just reading our Miami Dolphins beat reporters, they lazily repeat the same thing over and over again that Tua is getting paid blah blah blah and therefore he has to be the starter blah blah blah and because Tua is the starter blah blah, we have to bring back the HC that he’s comfortable and succeeds with (Really???) in Mike McDaniel blah blah blah, and if you bring back those two, you have to bring back interim GM Champ Kelly who is soooooooooooo well respected in NFL circles (Really???) and makes the most sense blah blah blah. OK, that’s a heaping pile of horseshit if I ever saw one, and it’s some of the laziest thinking ever!

If I didn’t hate Tua before, if ALL of that happens next season, I will most definitely hate him, because man, he just AIN’T WORTH ALL OF THAT!!!! Think of it this way, there will be no GM search done this offseason. This SHOULD have been started as soon as GM Chris Grier was handed his walking papers. Champ Kelly was interim GM for 2 teams, 2 very bad teams, (Bears and Raiders) and as you see, he didn’t get the top job to keep. So, in what I view as a crucial point for this team, we’re going to allow Champ Kelly to conduct NFL Free Agency, and handle the 2026 NFL Draft for our team, mostly because Tua is getting paid $56.4M, Mike McDaniel brings out the best Tua (Does he???), and since we’re going with those 2 knuckleheads, and you can’t really saddle a GM worth a shit with ALL OF THAT, so let’s be lazy and fuck this team for another season!

You can’t make that make sense to me. CANNOT! So many sacrifices for all the wrong reasons. Find a qualified GM from a winning program, one who has seen what it takes to do things right to build a winning team, not a guy who was with 2 poor programs and did poorly in his own right. That’s lazy, and once again, sets this team back at least one more season if not more. Say we got “Executive X” from the Ravens, or the Chiefs, or the Steelers, or the Packers, you’d say to yourself, “Ok, this guy has come from a team with a pedigree, has seen how to build a team, was part of building that team, and has seen how the best are able to remain competitive year after year. For goodness sake, that’s what we all want here.

So do an extensive search on teams like I mentioned, then identify specific executives you want to speak to, and ask those clubs for permission to do so, and get yourself a list of 5-10 candidates that meet that criteria, and start conducting interviews. One thing here Mr. Ross, DON’T YOU DARE tell any of those said candidates they have to keep Tua as the starting QB or they have to keep HC Mike McDaniel because Tua feels comfy with him, no, you don’t say a damned word about any of those things. Let them tell you their vision of what they think should be done, and after you hear all of their thoughts, you’ll most likely see a lot of common things during all those thorough interviews and then you make your choice and never look back. In reality, Tua can be traded but you’d have to eat most of his cap money, and then in 2027, it will be even easier to let him go if you can’t do so in 2026. Tua is the past, you can clearly see the decline, and despite him not getting injured or concussed yet, you know it’s always right there, waiting to happen, and you also know that “if” it happens, that could mean he never takes the field again.

I also have to point out when lazy people say that Mike McDaniel gets the most out of Tua and that’s why he needs to stay sounds so completely ridiculous to me. Ok, we’re 4-7, Tua has 17 TD’s and 13 INT’s, and a low output of 2123 yards passing which works out to 193 yards passing per game, so add in that Tua has all of 38 yards rushing this season, he’s not even managing 200 yards per game for our team, and his TD:INT ratio sucks! This is what people call “Getting the most out him?” Could it actually be worse? I’ll gladly add in that last game, the overtime victory in Madrid Spain, not Brazil (LOL), Tua completed 3 passes in the 4th quarter, a 9 yard completion on a very short pass to who else but De’Von Achane and a screen pass to Achane for 7. Another screen pass to Achane later on went for 22, but anyone can throw a screen pass to De’Von Achane. Tua has been relegated to a “Game Manager”, which is fine for a backup QB or a young QB who’s not quite ready to put the team on his back, but not for a QB who will be earning $56.4M.

To me, there simply is no rationalization to bringing back the threesome of Kelly, McDaniel and Tua. All that says to me is that Stephen Ross, the Owner of the Miami Dolphins is too lazy and too busy with other projects to do the the right thing, and put forward a major effort to identify a proper list of NFL Executives from some of the aforementioned teams and start identifying the best executive to lead this team into the future with no handcuffs, if’s and’s or but’s. No, let’s go with the guy who failed twice for two poor teams and keep him because our mid QB who is BTW having his worst season as a pro RIGHT NOW, in realtime, right in front of your face, and you can see the decline in skills because you attend all the games and you SEE IT UP CLOSE.

STEPHEN ROSS – DO THE RIGHT THING! FIND A NEW GM (Not CHAMP KELLY)!!!