Let’s take a moment to credit my colleague Conor Orr for naming Tua Tagovailoa and Kyler Murray as potential trade candidates to headline next year’s quarterback carousel.
Orr wrote that back in August and it’s now become clear that Tagovailoa’s and Murray’s days could be numbered with the teams that drafted them.
It would be surprising if one of those two quarterbacks is moved before the Nov. 4 trade deadline, but stranger things have happened. There is a strong possibility, however, that both lose their starting jobs later this season.
Let’s take a look at the QB dilemmas for the Miami Dolphins and Arizona Cardinals in this week’s NFL Fact or Fiction, along with some other simmering topics around the league.
It’s time for the Dolphins to stop starting Tua Tagovailoa
Manzano’s view: Fact
Perhaps the only way Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel can save his job is by permanently benching Tagovailoa, especially if reports are true of team owner Stephen Ross preferring to keep McDaniel for the entire season.
McDaniel has various reasons to sit Tagovailoa after he called out his teammates and coaches publicly and followed that with a three-interception stinker against the struggling Browns during the Dolphins’ embarrassing loss last week. Still, that wasn’t enough for McDaniel to bench him against the Falcons for Sunday’s road game.
Hopefully, for McDaniel’s job security, he has a plan in the works to soon go away from Tagovailoa, who has gotten worse since signing his four-year, $212.4 million contract extension before the 2024 season. Tagovailoa has a 7–11 record as a starter going back to last year, and for this season he only has 11 touchdown passes compared to 10 interceptions.
McDaniel surprisingly promoted rookie seventh-round pick Quinn Ewers as the backup quarterback vs. the Browns, moving him ahead of 2021 first-round pick Zach Wilson. That likely means McDaniel has been impressed with Ewers in practices and probably believes he can form a quality game plan around the Texas product if he were to start a game later this season.
If McDaniel can turn Ewers into a quality starter, perhaps that’ll get Ross to believe the 1–6 Dolphins’ issues are bigger on the QB side rather than with the coaching. Then again, Ross might be reluctant to sit Tagovailoa because the team won’t have a viable path to get rid of his contract until after the 2026 season. He’s owed a guaranteed $54 million next year and there would be a significant cap charge if the team were to cut him before the ’26 season.
But if McDaniel still has control over his roster decisions, he needs to at least go down swinging by rolling with a different quarterback in hopes of igniting the offense. Who knows, maybe Tagovailoa benefits in the long run by being forced to regain the starting job.
Cardinals should bring back Kyler Murray as the starting QB
Manzano’s view: Fiction
Cardinals coach Jonathan Gannon could also be on the hot seat, but if he’s worried about his job security he should maintain the status quo and stick with Jacoby Brissett even after Murray is cleared from his foot injury following the team’s bye week. Brissett has improved Arizona’s offense in various ways and has validated Gannon’s decision to stick with Drew Petzing as the offensive coordinator.
In two games with Brissett, the Cardinals have scored at least 23 points and produced more than 300 total yards. With Murray, the Cardinals were held under 300 total yards during the first four games of the season and scored more than 21 points only once in five games.
Yes, the Cardinals (2–5) aren’t winning games with Brissett, but they lost by a combined eight points against the Colts and Packers, two teams currently leading their respective conferences. This team could have easily spiraled out of control after the Week 5 meltdown against the lowly Titans. But the Cardinals continue to battle primarily because of Brissett’s quality performances. Tight end Trey McBride and many other skill players have thrived by playing with the 32-year-old veteran.
However, Gannon continues to publicly support Murray as the team’s starting quarterback. That will likely be Gannon’s downfall if the offense goes back to being stagnant with Murray as the starter.
If Murray doesn’t turn it around, the team should seriously consider placing him on the trade market in the offseason. He might still have some value considering how well his 2019 draft mate Daniel Jones has played during his first season with the Colts. Maybe a change of scenery could be good for Murray, who only has one playoff appearance to his name and appears unlikely to get another in his seventh season.
Raiders made the right move to not trade Maxx Crosby
Manzano’s view: Fiction
The only player the Raiders shouldn’t trade is probably Brock Bowers, who’s a superstar when healthy and is currently on his rookie deal.
Las Vegas is paying Crosby a lot of money to be the lone quality player on a bad defense, but the team still decided to tell him they have no intentions of trading him. The Raiders (1–6) need to stop trying to go for the quick fix route, like acquiring Geno Smith in the spring and Davante Adams a few years back. This team needs to trade veterans and stockpile draft picks to ignite a rebuild.
Crosby is already 28 and this franchise is not even close to fielding a winning team. The star edge rusher would likely net at least one first-round pick in a trade. After the beating the Silver and Black took against the Chiefs, they need to be serious sellers before the Nov. 4 trade deadline.
Manzano’s view: Fact
The Falcons’ 2025 schedule results are a perfect example of why the NFL is considered a week-to-week league.
One week the Falcons are beating up on the Bills and the following week they can’t score against the banged-up 49ers. One week the Falcons are cruising against the Vikings and the next week they’re getting blown out in Carolina.
For a while, I thought the Panthers (4–3) had the slowest rebuild in the league, but that honor might now belong to the Falcons (3–3), who fell to third place in the NFC South after the head-scratching loss against a 49ers squad that played without Brock Purdy, Nick Bosa, Fred Warner and many other key starters.
It doesn’t make sense for the Falcons to be this inconsistent with stud running back Bijan Robinson and a defense that’s only allowing 265.2 yards per game, second-best in the league. Atlanta better hurry up and find some stability because core groups get old fast in the NFL. This team doesn’t have much to show for investing first-round picks in Robinson, Michael Penix Jr., Drake London and Kyle Pitts in the past four years. Oh, and let’s not forget all of the money they invested in Kirk Cousins to be a backup.
Perhaps the Falcons get a get-right game against the Dolphins this week, but the schedule will get tougher with upcoming matchups against the Patriots and Colts. Atlanta has the talent to win all those games. The Falcons just need more consistency, which is easier said than done for this franchise.
