Tua Tagovailoa may end up being the Atlanta Falcons‘ Week 1 starter, but if he does, it’s looking more like a job he’ll win by default. With Michael Penix Jr. still working back from a torn ACL, Tagovailoa has the inside track at quarterback, but he keeps giving Atlanta reasons to worry about that.
That was the story again at a joint practice with the Indianapolis Colts, where his rough summer rolled on.
The Falcons signed Tagovailoa to steady the room while Penix heals, but so far he’s looked a lot like the quarterback the Miami Dolphins tossed away, despite eating his $99.2 million in dead money.
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Tua Tagovailoa Struggles in Falcons’ Joint Practice With Colts
The Falcons beat writers on hand painted an uneven picture, and the lows outnumbered the highs.
“Falcons first-team offense had a drive that went … Tua sack, Bijan carry for TFL, Tua fumbled snap,” the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Daniel Flick wrote. He noted the next drive ended on a bright note, a Tagovailoa jump ball that Drake London went up and grabbed over a Colts cornerback.
The dip came right back. Flick reported that Tagovailoa threw an interception to Colts corner Justin Walley in 11-on-11 work, a play that D. Orlando Ledbetter of the AJC described as a pick-six.
It’s the latest rough outing in a rough month. Tagovailoa’s preseason debut against the Denver Broncos was ugly, too, as he went 3-of-5 for 22 yards with a fumbled snap before giving way to the backups.
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The concern is that this version of Tagovailoa is the one the Dolphins decided they’d seen enough of.
Just two years ago, he was a Pro Bowler, leading the NFL with 4,624 passing yards in 2023 during his one fully healthy season under Mike McDaniel. From there, it unraveled.
He missed six games in 2024 with a concussion and a hip injury, and his yards per attempt cratered from a league-best 8.9 to 6.9. Then in 2025, he threw a career-high 15 interceptions before Miami benched him for rookie Quinn Ewers over the final three games. Along the way, the concussions have shadowed his entire career, keeping his durability in question.
NFL Network’s Marc Ross doesn’t think much has changed for Tagovailoa since being released by the Dolphins.
“Unfortunately what I saw from Tua, in limited view in the first preseason game, is exactly like the Tua from last year,” Ross said. “Look, Tua has had limitations coming out of Alabama.”
Ross argued the Falcons’ focus should be elsewhere.
“The process should be to get Michael Penix on the field as healthy as possible and get him on the field,” Ross said.
The Falcons signed Tagovailoa on a one-year deal precisely as a stopgap, for either Penix or another quarterback in 2027 to take over after.
Tagovailoa is still the favorite to start Week 1, with Penix still working back from his injury. But if Tagovailoa keeps playing like the quarterback Miami paid nearly $100 million to walk away from, the calls to accelerate Penix’s timeline will only grow louder.
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