The Las Vegas Raiders will undoubtedly be on the prowl for a new quarterback this offseason, as the Geno Smith experiment has blown up in their faces. Las Vegas could easily find that at the top of the board in the 2026 NFL Draft, but the Raiders have a tendency to screw themselves over in that realm.
On the other side of the NFL world, the Miami Dolphins are sure to be in the same position this offseason. On Wednesday, ESPN's Adam Schefeter reported that Tua Tagovailoa will be benched in favor of seventh-round rookie Quinn Ewers, and Zach Wilson will serve as Ewers' primary backup.
If the Dolphins do move on from Tagovailoa this offseason, he'll surely have a market for himself. After all, he's a former top five pick in the draft, he led Miami to a postseason appearance, and he has a Pro Bowl on his résumé. But the Raiders need to crank the wheel hard and steer clear from Tagovailoa.
Raiders should avoid Tua Tagovailoa at all costs if he's available
Financially speaking, Tagovailoa wouldn't be a major investment. Due to how his contract is constructed, if the Dolphins cut him, they would be on the hook for the rest of his deal. That means Las Vegas could land him on a one-year contract at the league's veteran minimum of $1.2 million.
Now, a starting quarterback at this price would be hard to pass up. But Raiders fans have to remember that Tagovailoa has been in a battle with Smith all season long for the league lead in interceptions. In fact, Tagovailoa is winning with 15 picks in 14 games.
As much name recognition as he has, and as well as he's played in the past, Tagovailoa just hasn't been the same over the last two seasons. Fear of more serious injuries may play a factor in that, which is unfortunate, but Tagovailoa just isn't scrambling or making gutsy plays like he used to.
This would be reminiscient of when the Pittsburgh Steelers acquired Russell Wilson after his fiasco with the Denver Broncos. The Raiders could do what the Steelers did and pair the veteran with a Justin Fields-like younger player in the draft. But that all worked out for the Broncos, not Pittsburgh.
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Trading for Tagovailoa should be firmly off the table as well. That would incur more of a financial cost for Las Vegas, and it would mean giving up draft capital. Months ago, ESPN proposed an NBA-style trade where the Dolphins would actually send the Raiders major draft capital just to move off his deal.
In the hours after Tagovailoa's benching, Bleacher Report proposed a similar idea. In a way, it is intriguing to pick up extra capital in a draft class full of players who can help this Raiders team. But acquiring Tagovailoa in any way, shape or form would be setting the franchise back.
Plus, Tagovailoa doesn't have the greatest reputation with the media, as he has publicly thrown his teammates under the bus at times. The media already tries to make Las Vegas a circus, and they certainly don't need a Ringmaster at quarterback.
The Raiders have, time and time again, looked for a discarded veteran quarterback to fix all of their organizational issues. Jimmy Garoppolo couldn't do it, nor could Gardner Minshew or Geno Smith. What reason is there to think that Tagovailoa could?
If the Silver and Black are itching to get a quarterback from Miami, then they should look no further than April's draft. And no, I'm not talking about the Hurricanes' Carson Beck, but rather Fernando Mendoza, who starred at Cal and Indiana by way of Christopher Columbus HS in ... Miami!