Dolphins bench Tua Tagovailoa for rookie quarterback

The Miami Dolphins benched Tua Tagovailoa and named rookie Quinn Ewers as their starting quarterback for their game against the Bengals on Dec. 21. The Patriots will likely face Ewers on Jan. 4 with a final time to be announced at a later date for a home game against the Dolphins.

Tagovailoa, who has battled concussions throughout his six-season career, has struggled to place the Dolphins into playoff contention in 2025. They were eliminated from postseason play officially on Monday, when they lost 28-15 to the Steelers. In 2025, Tagovailoa completed 67.7% of his passes for 2,660 yards with 20 touchdowns and 15 interceptions. It has been his most picks in a single-season of his career. 

Concussion and injuries limited Tagovailoa to an 11-game 2024 season, throwing seven interceptions – his fewest in a season since his rookie year – while completing a career-best 72.2% of his passes. He led the Dolphins to the postseason in the 2022 and 2023 — his only 17-game campaign — seasons, losing in the Wild Card round each appearance.

Ewers was drafted by the Dolphins in the seventh round of the 2025 NFL Draft out of Texas, where he led the Longhorns to a Peach Bowl win over Arizona State in the first year of the 12-team College Football Playoff format in 2024. Ewers, who nearly led Texas to a National Championship appearance in a tightly contested loss to Washington in the Sugar Bowl in 2023, accumulated a 21-5 record over his final two seasons with the Longhorns. He recorded 9,128 yards and 68 touchdowns over his three seasons in Austin. Ewers was ranked as the No. 1 quarterback and prospect in the 2021 recruiting class by 247Sports Composite. He originally committed to Texas out of high school, but he decommitted from the program and enrolled at Ohio State as a freshman. He later transferred to Texas after redshirting his first collegiate season at Ohio State.