Dolphins GM Jon-Eric Sullivan says team needs to ‘find our guy’ at quarterback during offseason

The Miami Dolphins experienced major change before the end of the 2025 season. General manager Chris Grier was fired in October and Tua Tagovailoa was benched a few months later. Those changes continued in the offseason, as the team fired head coach Mike McDaniel a few days after the regular season.

The team moved quickly to find replacements for two of those three spots … and Tagovailoa could be next. During a presser Thursday, new Dolphins general manager Jon-Eric Sullivan said the team would focus hard on getting “the quarterback situation in place.” Sullivan added that the team will try and “find our guy” during the offseason, per ESPN.

“We need to get the quarterback situation in place, but we’re not going to do it in an irresponsible manner where we sacrifice building the infrastructure of this football team,” he said. “So that when we do find our guy, he can be successful. We’ve all seen teams that go about it maybe in a questionable manner and you get a really good quarterback, but he can’t stay healthy because he’s getting killed or he doesn’t have anybody to throw to.

“So yes, we will find our guy, but we’re going to make sure that we’re building the infrastructure along the way so when we do find our trigger man — whoever that may be, whether it’s Tua, Quinn [Ewers] or somebody that’s not in the building — we have a team that he can go play and win with.”

Sullivan did mention both Tagovailoa and rookie Quinn Ewers as possible options, though also implied the team would look to bring in talent from elsewhere before next season. “We’ll be very active in acquiring quarterbacks to make sure that that room is as deep as we can make it,” Sullivan added.

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The team could address that issue in the NFL Draft, where it holds the No. 11 overall pick. Quarterback, however, isn’t super deep this year, leading Nate Tice and Charles Robinson of Yahoo Sports to list just one quarterback in the first round of their most recent mock draft after Dante Moore decided to return to Oregon. That would be Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza, who many anticipate the Las Vegas Raiders will select with the No. 1 overall pick in the draft.

The Dolphins could also consider taking a quarterback later in the draft or picking up someone off the free-agent market. There aren’t many big-name players expected to be available. Malik Willis, who new head coach Jeff Hafley and Sullivan know well from their days in Green Bay, could be an option. If not him, there’s always former Packer Aaron Rodgers … if he wants to keep playing.

Whether the Dolphins view either player as an upgrade over Tagovailoa remains to be seen. While Tagovailoa initially thrived under McDaniel, multiple concussions seemed to change how the team ran its offense. With the team focusing more on getting the ball out quick to protect Tagovailoa, the quarterback saw his numbers decline the past two seasons.

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In 2025, Tagovailoa threw for 2,660 passing yards, with 20 touchdowns against 15 interceptions in 14 games. At the time he was benched, Tagovailoa led the NFL in interceptions. By the end of the season, only Raiders starter Geno Smith had more interceptions than Tagovailoa.

With a new GM and head coach in place, Tagovailoa’s days as the Dolphins’ starter appear numbered. So much of the team’s success depend on who is under center, and Tagovailoa hasn’t produced like a star since 2023, his only Pro Bowl season.