The Dolphins picked up quarterback Tua Tagovailoa’s fifth-year option last spring, putting him under contract for 2024.
But now Tagovailoa and Miami are negotiating a long-term deal to lock him in with the franchise for years to come.
This week, General Manager Chris Grier told reporters that the organization has been in contact with Tagovailoa’s representation since the start of the offseason and would continue talks at the scouting combine.
“Our goal is to try and get something done,” Grier said, via Alain Poupart of SI.com. “[Tagovailoa’s agent] Ryan Williams has been great. Tua has been great. We’ll see. There is no timeline on it. At the end of the day, you know how these deals get done. They are complicated deals and we’re building a team through free agency as well. We’ll work through it and see if we can get something done.
“I think we’re hopeful. When you go through these things — you guys have all been around and you see other teams go through that — these are deals that very rarely come together quickly. There are a lot of pieces and moving parts. We’ve had positive discussions so far, and we’ll keep working here throughout the offseason.”
Grier noted that “everyone” would like to have a new deal signed “before the season.”
“But you’ve seen over the last few years, some of these other big deals that have been done have gone all the way into training camp, because they are complicated deals to put together with the money and stuff people are talking about,” Grier said.
Last summer, Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert signed his second contract on July 25. But Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow didn’t sign his contract until the eve of the regular season on Sept. 7.
Tagovailoa, 25, set career-highs in passing yards (4,624), touchdowns (29), and completion rate (69.3 percent) in 2023 — playing all 17 games for the first time in his career. He’s set to make $23.171 million in fully guaranteed salary in 2024.