Miami’s Tua Tagovailoa is the latest quarterback to receive a check this offseason, agreeing to a contract extension Friday.
Tagovailoa will reportedly sign a four-year, $212.4 million extension, per Ian Rapoport of NFL Network. The deal will pay Tagovailoa an average of $53.1 million per season, a record for a four-year extension.
The 26-year-old Alabama product made the Pro Bowl last season after leading the league in passing yards—the first Dolphins quarterback to do so since Dan Marino. Despite the team’s most recent playoff run that ended in a wild-card loss to eventual the Super Bowl Champions Kansas City Chiefs, Tagovailoa has shown improvement each year since he was drafted in 2020.
At 32-19 as Miami’s starter, Tagovailoa has increased his games won, passing yards and touchdowns thrown in each NFL season he’s played. In 2023, he completed nearly 70 percent of his passes and earned the right to lead the Dolphins’ offense for the forseable future.
Here are the details of the quarterback’s historic contract extension.
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Tua Tagovailoa contract details
Tagovailoa is set to receive a four-year, $212.4 million extension with $167 million in guarantees. That equals $53.1 million in average annual salary and puts him under contract through the 2028 season.
Prior to the deal, Tagovailoa was headed into his fifth and final year of his rookie contract, which guaranteed a base salary of $23.17 million this upcoming season.
The significant pay raise makes him the third-highest paid quarterback in the NFL, behind Trevor Lawrence and Joe Burrow. Both Burrow and Lawrence signed deals in the last year that pay them each $55 million per year.
Tua Tagovailoa stats
| Season | Games played | Completion % | Yards | TD | INT | Rating |
| 2020 | 10 | 64.1 | 1,814 | 11 | 5 | 87.1 |
| 2021 | 13 | 67.8 | 2,653 | 16 | 10 | 90.1 |
| 2022 | 13 | 64.8 | 3,548 | 25 | 8 | 105.5 |
| 2023 | 17 | 69.3 | 4,624 | 29 | 14 | 101.1 |
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NFL’s highest-paid quarterbacks
| Rank | Player | AAV |
| 1 | Joe Burrow | $55 million |
| 2 | Trevor Lawrence | $55 million |
| 3 | Tua Tagovailoa | $53.1 million |
| 4 | Jared Goff | $53 million |
| 5 | Justin Herbert | $52.5 million |
| 6 | Lamar Jackson | $52 million |
| 7 | Jalen Hurts | $51 million |
| 8 | Kyler Murray | $46.1 million |
| 9 | Deshaun Watson | $46 million |
| T-10 | Kirk Cousins | $45 million |
| T-10 | Patrick Mahomes | $45 million |
