Jaylen Waddle appears to be fully on board with Tua Tagovailoa staying in South Beach. The Miami Dolphins wide receiver is speaking out in support of the team’s quarterback, whose future with the club is said to be up in the air. Waddle and Tagovailoa go back a long way, having been teammates at Alabama before the latter was drafted by the Dolphins in 2020. Waddle would join him in Miami the following year.
Speaking on “The Set with Terron Armstead,” Thursday Waddle says that his bond with Tagovailoa goes well beyond football.
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“Me and Tue, we’re good… I’ve known Tua since I was like 18, 19… I feel like the amount of years that we’ve known each other that our kids are going to be friends,” said Waddle (Time Stamp: 0:09).
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With the Dolphins missing the playoffs in consecutive seasons, there’s a belief that the team’s offseason will be focused on rebuilding and dumping players with huge salaries to save money. They already released star receiver Tyreek Hill, who missed most of 2025 through injury. Tagovailoa has missed his share of time in the NFL in past seasons through injuries as well.
Waddle says, that aside from football, he’s always there for his quarterback if he needs him.
“If he (Tagovailoa) needs someone to talk to or anything or advice or just someone to vent to, he always knows I’m a call away,” declared Waddle (Time Stamp: 0:40).
Waddle says no football talk has transpired between them since the season ended but only chatted about their respective off-season plans.
Waddle was said to have wanted out of Miami earlier this week when news of Hill’s release came out. He seems to have dismissed those rumours, responding to a tweet that suggested that with a cap emoji, believing it was false reporting. Tagovailoa’s future in Miami is very much in doubt given he was benched near the tail end of 2025. NFL insider Cameron Wolfe, however, believes that finding a trade partner for the quarterback will be difficult.
Former Dolphins tackle gives verdict on Tagovailoa
It sounds like Waddle is in the minority of people who wants Tagovailoa to be a Miami Dolphin in 2026. Former Dolphins offensive tackle Terron Armstead, who played with both Tagovailoa and Waddle, believes the club will move on.
On the Rich Eisen show Thursday via ESPN, he notes that the club have already shown signs that it’s out with the old and in with the new. Armstead adds that new coach Jeff Hafley doesn’t know Tagovailoa and doesn’t have the same experience former coach Mike McDaniel had with him when they were the #1 offense in the NFL in 2023.
According to Armstead, the new regime in place in Miami are showing the direction they’re going, releasing Hill, Bradley Chubb, and James Daniels, while Minkah Fitzpatrick’s name has been brought up in trade speculation. As such, Armstead says that he can see the organization moving on from Tagovailoa being a Miami Dolphin.
Tagovailoa has $54 million guaranteed for next season, whether he plays for the Dolphins or not. Cutting him in the offseason would mean Miami absorb $99.2 million in cap charges. If they have him as a June 1 post designation, though, they could split the cap charges.
That would mean they pay $55.4 million in 2026 and $43.8 million the next year.
Edited by Joel Lefevre
