Long before the Dolphins benched Tua Tagovailoa and turned to rookie Quinn Ewers, they made a push to land the quarterback they'll face Sunday -- Joe Burrow.
Before the 2020 NFL draft, the Dolphins offered the Bengals four first-round picks in exchange for the No. 1 selection and the ability to draft Burrow, league sources told ESPN.
The Bengals declined to even engage in discussions and shut down the trade inquiry before it could gain any traction, according to sources.
The Dolphins now need to figure out another quarterback plan while the Bengals need to turn around their recent results and prevent more questions like the ones that Burrow has raised in recent weeks.
The Dolphins moved on from Tagovailoa this week and are prepared to move on from him this offseason, according to league sources.
The only question is how.
The Dolphins are getting ready to embark upon a search for a new general manager, who is expected to have his own ideas about how to handle Miami's mess at the quarterback position.
Miami already owes Tagovailoa $54 million guaranteed in 2026; another $3 million of his 2027 salary becomes guaranteed on March 15, meaning the Dolphins would like to decide the most effective way of separating from the quarterback before that date.
Cutting Tagovailoa would leave a $99 million dead money salary cap charge -- the largest in NFL history. Designating Tagovailoa as a post June 1 cut would spread out the money and make it count for $67.4 million in 2026 and $31.8 million in 2027.
The Broncos provided a road map for how to do this in March 2024 when they ate $85 million of dead cap money in Russell Wilson's contract, including $32 million they still are carrying this season. They have an 11-game winning streak and currently would have the AFC's No. 1 seed.
But Denver also hit on quarterback Bo Nix in the first round of last year's draft, and had the savviness of coach Sean Payton to lead them out of the deficit that the Wilson contract created.
The Dolphins also could look to trade Tagovailoa the way the Texans once did with Brock Osweiler, who was a financial burden to Houston. Back in March 2017, the Texans sent Osweiler, a 2018 second-round pick and a 2017 sixth-round pick to the Cleveland Browns for a 2017 fourth-round pick. The Browns received draft compensation to take on the $16 million guarantee left in Osweiler's deal.
Some around the league have wondered if the Dolphins could pay down a heavy portion of Tagovailoa's deal and offer draft pick compensation for another team to take on the remaining balance of the contract.
But Tagovailoa also would need to take a pay cut to facilitate a trade and would likely have some say in where he would end up. The only reason this option has a chance is the number of teams that need quarterbacks versus how few will actually be available.
Teams in quarterback limbo or facing quarterback questions include the Cardinals, Browns, Jets, Raiders, Steelers, Colts and Falcons.
But Miami's new GM would first have to decide whether that approach is worthwhile and then find the right trade partner.
However the Tagovailoa breakup is executed, help could come in the form of wide receiver Tyreek Hill, who currently is slated to have a $52 million salary cap number next season. It's ironic that the Tagovailoa-Hill connection that made the Dolphins competitive in recent seasons now has the chance to do the same for future seasons -- in a reverse way.
If the Dolphins release Hill before June 1, they would save $23.65 million against their cap; if they designated him a post June 1 release, they would save $36 million in 2026. Either way, moving on from Hill could help pave the way for the Dolphins to move on from Tagovailoa.
The Dolphins' quarterback auditions start Sunday when Ewers will make his first NFL start and attempt to become the first University of Texas quarterback to win his first NFL start since Chris Simms in Week 5 of the 2004 season.
The Dolphins are intrigued with Ewers and need to see whether he can be part of their quarterback solution next season. They don't know who their quarterback will be in 2026, but most agree it will not be Tagovailoa.
In their dreams, it would have been Burrow -- had they been able to pull off the trade for him back in 2020. The Dolphins were well-positioned to make a run at Burrow going into the 2020 draft since they had three first-round picks: their own, Pittsburgh's via the Minkah Fitzpatrick trade and Houston's via the Laremy Tunsil trade. Miami also had two 2021 first-round picks: its own and Houston's via the Tunsil trade.
But no matter how often the Dolphins called the Bengals and what they were willing to offer -- which included four first-round picks -- Cincinnati had no interest in engaging and was locked in on drafting Burrow.
In news conferences in each of the past two weeks, Burrow has openly wondered about his future in football and in Cincinnati. He has said he fully expects to be in Cincinnati next season.
The organization did right by Burrow this past offseason, re-signing both Ja'Marr Chase and Tee Higgins. But the three did not get to see how well they could perform together this season because of injury.
The hope is next season they will, but next season also now looms large because if the Bengals can't turn it around, the questions that Burrow faced these past two weeks, and the issues that have arisen, will only be accentuated -- meaning there is a lot on the line in 2026 for the Bengals, Burrow and their future together.