Tua Tagovailoa’s Dolphins Contract Has $49.3M Insurance Policy amid QB’s Injury

Julia StumbaughSeptember 18, 2024

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The Miami Dolphins have a $49.3 million insurance policy on quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, according to a copy of his contract reportedly obtained by ESPN’s Dan Graziano.

Tagovailoa was placed on injured reserve on Tuesday after suffering a concussion last Thursday during the Dolphins’ Week 2 loss to the Buffalo Bills.

The insurance policy is set to kick in “if Tagovailoa is not cleared by doctors to return to play,” Graziano reported.

The four-year, $212.4 million contract Tagovailoa signed with the Dolphins this season includes $167 million in injury guarantees, $43 million of which have already been paid, per Spotrac.

The Dolphins will be obligated to pay out the rest of the guaranteed $124 million if Tagovailoa is not medically cleared to return to the NFL, per Spotrac. In that case, Graziano noted that the insurance policy could help “offset” that total.

NBC Sports’ Mike Florio previously reported that Tagovailoa’s contract allows the Dolphins to purchase insurance policies worth “up to” $49.3 million.

This amount applies to injuries suffered between the contract’s signing in July and the beginning of the Dolphins’ offseason workouts in 2025, Florio noted. The maximum insurance the Dolphins can hold on Tagovailoa’s contract then decreases each year, starting with a drop to $36.975 million in 2025, per Florio.

Tagovailoa’s retirement would need to be mandated by doctors to trigger both his injury guarantees and the Dolphins’ ability to collect the insurance money, per Spotrac and Florio.

Should Tagovailoa decide to retire without being medically held off the field, he would be forced to forfeit the remaining $124 million in guarantees.

In that case, the Dolphins could attempt to recoup “the bulk of” the $42 million signing bonus Tagovailoa earned when signing his new deal in July, Florio noted.

Alternatively, if Tagovailoa is medically cleared by March and the Dolphins choose to release him, they could decide to take on $83.6 million in dead cap over the 2025 and 2026 seasons rather than paying out the rest of his contract, per Spotrac.

For now the focus will be on Tagovailoa’s health as he recovers from the third diagnosed concussion of his NFL career.

The Dolphins quarterback suffered two diagnosed concussions leading him to miss five games during the 2022 season. He was also diagnosed with a concussion during his 2019 college season with Alabama.

Tagovailoa is eligible to return on Oct. 27 for Week 8 against the Arizona Cardinals at the earliest. He “will seek opinions from multiple independent neurologists before returning to the field,” Marcel Louis-Jacques reported for ESPN.