BREAKING: Tua Tagovailoa has rejected contract offer from the Miami Dolphins

What is the latest update on Tua Tagovailoa’s contract extension?

Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa and general manager Chris Grier are locked into a quarter-billion-dollar game of chicken, seeing who blinks first on Tua’s contract extension. They’re in the trenches.

The latest report from ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler is that Tua’s camp has rejected at least one contract offer from the Dolphins, and I expect it won’t be the last.

Earlier this month, the Dolphins and Tua got the ball rolling on his extension that could see the Miami quarterback get the most money in NFL history. As Joy Taylor said, he’s the next guy up and will get paid.

As simple as that sounds, the negotiating table is a tough place to be as a player. The team wants to keep the player for the foreseeable future but at the lowest price possible. The team will magnify every mistake or injury the player has had in the career thus far. They’ll lowball the player, and the agent will have to scrap and fight for every dollar over the team’s set price.

As I said, it’s tough, and the NFL is a business first and foremost.

To clarify the Fowler report, Tua has not missed OTA’s because it starts tomorrow, and he’s been at voluntary workouts. Fowler may have been a little mixed up on that front. The workouts are voluntary. If Tua has missed any time so far, it’s safe to assume it’s not contract-related.

Regarding Fowler’s report on the rejected offer, there isn’t a number on the years or annual salary within the report. Most fans and media expect Tua to get between $52 – $55 million per year. In quarterback terms, that’s between Jared Goff and Joe Burrow money, which makes sense on its face.

As much as we love to look at annual salary, a better indicator of quarterback money, in my opinion, is the percentage of the total salary cap the quarterback takes up with their annual salary.

The 2024 NFL salary is $255.4 million. If you stick Tua’s total salary cap percentage in the middle of the top ten at around 22.7%, the annual salary of his contract extension would be $57.9 million, making Tua the highest-paid player in NFL history.

It’s reasonable for Tua’s camp to look closer to that number than the number the Dolphins are rolling out with at the start of negotiations.

Although Tua and the Dolphins got the ball rolling and are in negotiations, offers will get turned down on both sides and could easily bleed into the season.

The Dolphins have Tua under contract with his fifth-year option this year and can franchise tag him for up to three years. They won’t need to use more than one tag, but it gives the team ample time for a lengthy negotiation, and I don’t see the Dolphins caving in, so it doesn’t become a storyline during the season. Buckle up, folks. This could be a bumpy ride.

Let us know in the comments when you think a deal will get done and what his annual salary could be.