There has been much discussion this off-season about whether to restructure Tua Tagovailoa‘s current contract.

The advantages are apparent: the Miami Dolphins free up significant salary cap space.

This money can be used to sign or trade for one or two starting-caliber players, improving the team’s roster.

The Dolphins take advantage of players in their best playing years, such as wide receiver Tyreek Hill, cornerback Jalen Ramsey, and linebacker/edge rusher Bradley Chubb.

Sounds good thus far.

Yet, let’s examine the implications of restructuring Tua’s contract.

A restructuring pushes the dollars to be absorbed to later and later years, converting the salary dollars into a signing bonus.

The NFL is innovative, however, and a team that restructures a contract in this manner must count those dollars against their salary cap in future years.

Also, the team is suddenly committed to Tua Tagovailoa for years past his current contract.

The team can get out of Tua’s contract after the 2026 season.

Restructuring Tua’s contract removes this option.

The team has not yet restructured Tua’s contract, so they are not committed to him past the next couple of years.

If that is the case, that decision had to have come from the owner, Stephen Ross, who is the last line of authority.

And given that General Manager Chris Grier tends to defend his draft picks, even when they become obvious mistakes, I believe someone else has Stephen Ross’s ear.

Now, the Dolphins could still restructure Tua’s contract at any time, making this argument moot.

Yet, it shows hesitation on the part of the Dolphins’ front office to commit to Tua Tagovailoa for multiple future years.

And there are numerous reasons for this hesitancy.

To list a few:

Tua is injury-prone and has only played an entire NFL season once.

Tua has not had the ability to win in critical prime-time games with a national audience.

Tua disappears in the games that count the most.

It has been evident that Tua cannot win games in cold weather.

And finally, Tua is a one-dimensional quarterback who cannot escape the pocket and gain much-needed yards with his legs.

Let’s see what happens as the off-season progresses.

Excuse My Trench