What happens if Dolphins don’t extend Tua and Tyreek contracts before the start of training camp?

Since becoming teammates in 2022 nobody in the NFL has advocated for Tua Tagovailoa as persistently and faithfully as Tyreek Hill, and the five-time All-Pro receiver recently took his campaign for the pair to receive contract extensions this summer to ESPN.

During multiple segments on the national sports network, Hill campaigned for his quarterback to receive a contract that would make him one of the NFL’s highest-paid players, but encouraged the Miami Dolphins to “save some room for me” to get a raise.

“From Tua’s development to where he’s come from to where is now, that should speak volumes to people,” Hill said, referring to the two seasons he has spent with Tagovailoa in Miami, which have resulted in two winning seasons that ended with first-round playoff losses.

Tagovailoa is one of two quarterbacks (San Francisco’s Brock Purdy is the other) who has delivered back-to-back seasons with a 100-plus passer rating in 2022 and 2023.

Tagovailoa led the NFL in passer rating (105.5) in 2022, a season where concussions kept the former Alabama stnadout from participating in four regular-season games and Miami’s playoff loss to the Buffalo Bills.

And in 2023 Tagovailoa led the NFL’s top ranked offense, and led the league with 4,624 passing yards, becoming the first Dolphins player to do so since Dan Marino did it in 1992.

“A lot of people will say he has coach [Mike] McDaniel calling plays, or he has X, Y, Z receivers and all these playmakers, but at the end of the day you still have to get those playmakers the ball. You got to be able to prepare each and every week with the same mindset knowing that you have crazy defensive ends coming off the edge trying to take your head off,” Hill told ESPN. “There is a lot that goes into it. And for people to sit here and discredit Tua and say he isn’t deserving of a contract is wild to me.

“A lot of guys on the team understand his value and understand we need him. We need his leadership and we need his mindset.”

EXTENSIONS WOULD BENEFIT DOLPHINS

The Dolphins have roughly $16 million in cap space to work with because of this offseason’s release of Pro Bowl cornerback Xavien Howard, but extensions for Tagovailoa and Hill would likely create cap space, not reduce it.

The Dolphins could create more than $20 million in cap space — creating a $36 million surplus that could be carried over to next season — by signing Tagovailoa and Hill to multiyear extensions if the signing bonuses are substantial. That’s even if they are each given pace-setting contracts for their position.

Tagovailoa, who is owed $23.1 million this season because of the fifth-year option on his rookie deal the team triggered last year, and his camp are pushing for a multiyear deal that will keep him in the company of his draft class peers — Joe Burrow, Justin Herbert and Jalen Hurts — as one of the NFL’s highest-paid quarterbacks, pulling in a salary that averages $50 million plus a season. Tagovailoa was picked fifth overall in the 2020 Draft.

Seven NFL quarterbacks — Trevor Lawrence ($55 million), Burrow ($55 million), Jared Goff ($53 million), Patrick Mahomes ($52.6 million), Herbert ($52.5 million), Lamar Jackson ($52 million), Hurts ($51 million) — have contracts that average $50 million or more a season, and Tagovailoa’s camp is adamant about making him the eighth.

But the negotiations, which began in the spring, haven’t been smooth, and a deal hasn’t been agreed to with a week to go before the July 24 start of training camp. And there’s a possibility that Tagovailoa might hold out, which would result in a $50,000-per-day fine, or conduct a hold in.

That’s where Tagovailoa would show up for work, avoiding the fines, but limit his participation, much like Christian Wilkins did last season when he and the Dolphins couldn’t agree to an extension and he was eventually forced to play in his fifth-year option after sitting out the final three weeks of training camp. The newest CBA agreement boosted the daily fines from $30,000 to $50,000, but changed the language, allowing players to attend training camp without participating, avoiding the financial penalties.

Tagovailoa skipped all of Miami’s 11-on-11 work during the offseason program, only participating in 7-on-7 drills as a compromise with McDaniel, who is understanding of the negotiations, but hasn’t gotten involved, protecting his player-coach relationship. It’s possible Tagovailoa could take the same approach during training camp until a deal gets done.

IS HILL DESERVING OF A RAISE?

It’s possible that Hill, whose agent has been discussing a contract restructuring with the Dolphins for months, could also be a camp hold-in. While Hill will earn $19.6 million this season, it’s the final portion of the four-year, $120 million contract extension he signed with Miami in 2022 that’s guaranteed, and players of his stature typically don’t play without guaranteed money going into future seasons.

Hill, who recently turned 30, is on the books to earn $22.9 million in 2025, but his 2026 salary of $45 million likely won’t be honored since that bloated figure was only put into the deal to artificially inflate his annual earnings to $30 million a season, which at the time set an NFL record. However, Hill has actually earned $23.9 million a season from the Dolphins.

Hill told ESPN he’s excited by the fact the receiver market is “blowing up,” mainly because he’s confident it will lead to a bigger payday for the eight-time Pro Bowler, who is the first receiver in NFL history to produce back-to-back seasons with 1,700 receiving yards.

“Being able to set the market when it was $30 [million]. And now that Justin Jefferson has created a whole new wave of $35 million receivers, this is crazy,” Hill said, referring to the five-year, $159 million contract the Minnesota Vikings gave Jefferson this offseason, which guaranteed him $88.7 million.

Technically, Jefferson’s deal averages out to $31.8 million a season, not the $35 million Hill stated. But all of his contract will likely be earned, and there’s no fluff in his deal inflating the average, unlike Hill’s contract.

“I’m excited to see where the market goes from here because you got guys like [Dallas’] Ceedee Lamb and [Cincinnati’s] Ja’Marr Chase who haven’t signed,” Hill continued. “It’s fun to see the league continue to grow and continue to put money into other positions.”

Hill, who has 10,139 receiving yards in his nine seasons, which ranks him 53rd all time in receiving yards, has stressed that he doesn’t need to be the NFL’s highest paid receiver. But he has pointed out that he does need to be among the league’s highest paid players at his position.

If Hill simply delivered his career average of 1,267 receiving yards per season he’ll jump to 36th on the all-time receiving yards list, which would put him behind Mike Evans (who is still playing for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers), Calvin Johnson, a first ballot Hall of Famer, and Muhsin Muhammad, who played 14 seasons for the Panthers and Bears.

Another three seasons of producing his career average would make Hill one of the NFL’s 15 most productive receivers of all time.