Miami Dolphins

The Athletic's Mike Sando discusses a couple different options the Miami Dolphins have with quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, who is heading into the final year of his rookie deal in 2024. The most palatable option could be trading him for someone like Vikings QB Kirk Cousins and some draft picks. "Your upside with Tua certainly seems limited," an executive said, "so let's say you can trade him. I would be exploring, 'OK, Tua, we can win games with, probably not winning a championship with. Kirk Cousins, we can win games with, probably not winning a championship with. But our resources are better spent on Cousins plus draft picks than they are on just Tua." The most logical option could be to let him play out his fifth-year option and potentially go the franchise-tag route. "He is at the level of quarterback that is hard to commit to," another executive said. "But it becomes really tricky when you start betting against your quarterback like that."

Miami Dolphins general manager Chris Grier said on Monday that the goal is to have quarterback Tua Tagovailoa in Miami for the long term. Tagovailoa has one year remaining on his rookie deal, and Grier said the team will continue to communicate with him and his representation in the offseason. The 25-year-old is due for a long-term contract extension after two excellent seasons the last two years, but the problem for the Dolphins is that they are projected to be around $40 million over the 2024 salary cap, so giving Tagovailoa an extension will likely come at the cost of other important pieces on the team. After concussion issues in 2022, Tagovailoa played in all 17 regular season games in 2023 and led the league with 4,624 passing yards while throwing a career-high 29 touchdowns and 14 interceptions. The first-time Pro Bowler will be a solid midrange QB1 target in fantasy this fall.

Miami Dolphins tight end Durham Smythe remained far off of the fantasy radar in a disappointing wild-card loss to the Kansas City Chiefs on Saturday. He ended the game with three catches on four targets for 12 yards and his longest play was just a five-yard catch. The 28-year-old only registered three games with more than three receptions and ended the year with only 366 yards on 35 receptions and no touchdowns. He only managed to get four more yards than Mike Gesicki in his last season with the Dolphins, but he at least managed five touchdowns. Smythe doesn't seem to be worth a draft pick in fantasy leagues next year unless it's a very deep league that uses almost all of the starters in the league.

Miami Dolphins running back Raheem Mostert (ankle, knee) and safety Jevon Holland (knee) aren't going to need surgery in the offseason. For Mostert, he missed the team's final two regular season games before returning in Saturday night's loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in the wild-card round. In his return in the frigid conditions in KC, Mostert had only eight rushing attempts for 33 yards and caught one pass for a loss of three yards. The 31-year-old had easily his best year in 2023 with Miami, picking up his first 1,000-yard rushing season while also scoring a league-high 21 touchdowns (18 rushing, three receiving). Mostert will be back with Miami in 2024, but he'll not only face regression in all categories, but he'll most likely also see fewer backfield touches with the emerging Achane earning a bigger role.

Miami Dolphins wide receiver Jaylen Waddle finished off the 2023 season by missing the last two regular-season games and then putting up a dud in the team's wild-card loss to the Kansas City Chiefs on Saturday night. Waddle ended the game with two receptions for 31 yards on five targets and nine yards on one carry. The 25-year-old gathered three 100-yard games and found the end zone four times this year. He was a solid WR2 for his team and finished the year in WR3 territory after taking a sizeable step back from his 2022 season. He missed a few more games this year compared to the season prior, however, he still saw around the same amount of targets and turned it into fewer receptions, yards, touchdowns, and worse yards per target. He should remain a mid-round fantasy draft pick because he does offer a higher upside than most secondary receivers.