Fins GM: Work to do before we ID 'our guy' at QB

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. -- Dolphins general manager Jon-Eric Sullivan has a plan for the team's quarterbacks moving forward, but there's "too much work to do" before a decision is made for this coming season.

Sullivan complimented quarterback Tua Tagovailoa during his introductory news conference Thursday with head coach Jeff Hafley but also acknowledged that the position was something they had to figure out.

Critically, he insisted Miami's priority was making sure it has the proper infrastructure in place for whenever they "find our guy."

"We need to get the quarterback situation in place, but we're not going to do it in an irresponsible manner where we sacrifice building the infrastructure of this football team," he said. "So that when we do find our guy, he can be successful. We've all seen teams that go about it maybe in a questionable manner and you get a really good quarterback, but he can't stay healthy because he's getting killed or he doesn't have anybody to throw to.

"So yes, we will find our guy, but we're going to make sure that we're building the infrastructure along the way so when we do find our trigger man -- whoever that may be, whether it's Tua, Quinn [Ewers] or somebody that's not in the building -- we have a team that he can go play and win with."

Tagovailoa was benched for the rookie Ewers with three games remaining in the 2025 season, after throwing a career-high 15 interceptions while failing to eclipse 200 passing yards in eight of the 14 games he played.

After the season, Tagovailoa suggested he was open to a fresh start with a new team; he signed a four-year $212.4 million extension in July 2024 that kicked in this past season.

The Dolphins would take a $99 million dead cap hit if they release Tagovailoa before June 1; that number drops to $67.4 million if done after June 1, with an additional $31.8 million dead cap hit in 2027.

Sullivan acknowledged the Dolphins' quarterback situation was "a huge question looming over the organization" but added that his time with the Green Bay Packers taught him how to handle the position.

"I've learned if you can help it, don't wait until you don't have a quarterback to find one," he said. "If you think about what we did with Aaron [Rodgers] ... You've got to remember, Brett [Favre] was still in place and playing at a very high level, and there were a lot of people in that building that didn't think drafting a quarterback who was going to sit for an extended amount of time as a first-round pick made a lot of sense was where we were as a team ... the history speaks for itself.

"The quarterback position is the most important position in sports, in my opinion. Certainly the most important position in football. We're going to invest in that position every year if we can. Now, depending on where we are as a football team, it'll be at different values. But we will draft quarterbacks every year, if not every other year, because I think you have to. If you hit on a guy, great, and if not, if you hit on two, you have trade value.

"I can't say enough about the importance of it, and we'll be very active in acquiring quarterbacks to make sure that that room is as deep as we can make it."

Whichever quarterback is in place in 2026 will run an offense based around a physical run game, Hafley said.

The Dolphins' new coach said he'll hire an offensive coordinator and build an offensive philosophy that borrows elements from things that challenged him as a defensive coordinator.

On defense, Hafley said he will call plays.

"That's really important to me and I have a plan in place with potential hires that will allow me to be the head coach in the offseason," he said. "Kind of like how I watched Kyle Shanahan do it and kind of like how I watched Matt [LaFleur] do it in Green Bay -- but I am going to call plays. It's really important to me. It's something that I love to do. It really connects me with that group.

"I think we'll bring a lot of energy to that side of the football, and I think the details will be exactly how I want them early on as we go, offense and defense, schematically speaking -- it's all going to start with fundamentals and technique to me."