The Atlanta Falcons underwent quite a few changes over the offseason, with one of their notable moves seeing them shake up their quarterback depth chart. Rather than handing the job over to Michael Penix Jr. again in 2026, the team brought in Tua Tagovailoa to compete for the starting gig with him.
Penix is recovering from a partially torn ACL, which seemingly gave Tagovailoa the inside track to start come Week 1. Sure enough, Penix isn’t ready for the start of training camp, but head coach Kevin Stefanski issued a surprising update on Tagovailoa’s status that paints a worrying picture for Atlanta’s quarterback room.
Tua Tagovailoa Dealing with Undisclosed Injury
It wasn’t long ago that Tagovailoa was viewed as one of the better quarterbacks in the NFL. In 2023, he earned a Pro Bowl selection after he led the league with 4,624 passing yards for the Miami Dolphins. Everything unraveled over the past two seasons, though, with the Dolphins behind Tagovailoa late last year before ultimately releasing him early this offseason.
The Falcons decided to take a flier on Tagovailoa, signing him to a one-year, $1.2 million contract in free agency. While his numbers from the 2025 campaign aren’t particularly good (260/384, 2,660 YDS, 20 TD, 15 INT), Tagovailoa has proven that, in the right system, he can be a very effective quarterback.
Stefanski has gotten some good football out of unheralded quarterbacks in the past, and the hope is that he can help Tagovailoa get his career back on track. In order to do that, though, Tagovailoa needs to stay healthy, which has been an issue for him throughout his time in the pros. Unfortunately, that trend appears to have carried over to his time with Atlanta, as he is dealing with a back injury that will force him to miss the start of training camp.
“Falcons head coach Kevin Stefanski said Tua Tagovailoa is working through an injury. ‘He will be out there sooner rather than later,’” Tori McElhaney of the team’s official website shared in a post on X.
Falcons Not Too Concerned with Tua Tagovailoa’s Injury Status
GettyFLOWERY BRANCH, GEORGIA – MAY 27: Tua Tagovailoa #1 of the Atlanta Falcons runs through drills during OTA’s at IBM Performance Field on May 27, 2026 in Flowery Branch, Georgia. (Photo by Todd Kirkland/Getty Images)
The silver lining here is that Stefanski doesn’t seem too worried about Tagovailoa’s injury, indicating that the team expects him to be back on the field soon. With Penix also on the sidelines, though, that leaves undrafted rookie Jack Strand and the recently signed Cooper Rush as the only two quarterbacks who will be taking reps to begin training camp.
Both Tagovailoa and Penix’s respective injury updates aren’t ideal, but Atlanta would rather have them on the field in September than at the end of July. As a result, it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that Stefanski and company are playing things safe when it comes to their injury situations, but the hope for Tagovailoa at least is that he will be back under center in the near future.
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