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Any doubt about whether there’s a quarterback competition with the Atlanta Falcons between Michael Penix Jr. and Tua Tagovailoa was settled by the one who signed the latter earlier this week.
“For Tua, coming in here, he knows he’s coming in to compete, just like Michael knows that he’s coming in to compete,” Falcons general manager Ian Cunningham said at a press conference on Friday about the team signing Tagovailoa, according to NFL.com. “Everybody, quite frankly, not just those two at the quarterback position, but everybody is coming in to compete. There are no starters right now.
“We’re excited to have Tua, but we’re excited to have all the players that we were able to get in this free-agent class.”
Atlanta promptly signed Tagovailoa to a league minimum contract after the Miami Dolphins officially released him on Monday; Tagovailoa’s release created an NFL-record $99 million dead cap hit for the Dolphins (he was entering the second season of a four-year, $212.4 million deal).
Tagovailoa, a 2023 Pro Bowler, is coming off a down year, as he totaled 2,660 passing yards, 20 passing touchdowns, a career-high 15 interceptions and an 88.5 passer rating across 14 starts in 2025 (he was benched after Week 15), while completing 67.7% of his passes. The year prior (2024), Tagovailoa led the NFL in completion percentage (72.9%). He also led the sport with 4,624 passing yards in 2023 and a 105.5 passer rating in 2022.
Where does Tagovailoa’s arrival leave Penix?
“We talked to him. [Head coach] Kevin [Stefanski] talked to him. I talked to his agent once we knew that this was the route that we have been going,” Cunningham mentioned about Atlanta’s communication with Penix. “You do not need to blindside anyone, and that is simply how we function. We need to have open conversations and communication, and I really feel like we did that with reference to Michael and Tua.”
Penix, whom Atlanta chosen with the No. 8 decide within the 2024 NFL Draft, began the final three video games of his 2024 rookie marketing campaign and opened the 2025 season because the Falcons’ beginning quarterback. With that mentioned, his 2025 marketing campaign ended after 9 begins as a result of a torn ACL. Throughout the 9 video games he began final season, Penix totaled 1,982 passing yards, 9 passing touchdowns, three interceptions and an 88.5 passer score, whereas finishing 60.1% of his passes.
Why does “communication” loom giant for the Falcons? Two years in the past, they drafted Penix after signing Kirk Cousins to a four-year, $180 million deal, with the veteran quarterback’s camp feeling misled by Atlanta’s draft choice. Cousins was benched for Penix in Week 16 of the 2024 season, obtained again below middle on a full-time foundation after Penix went down final season and was formally launched earlier this week.
After all, Atlanta has a brand new regime than the one which executed the aforementioned 2024 offseason, because the Falcons employed former franchise quarterback Matt Ryan as their President of Soccer, Cunningham — who was beforehand the assistant basic supervisor of the Chicago Bears — as their basic supervisor and Stefanski, the previous coach of the Cleveland Browns, as their new coach.
Final month, Ryan expressed that he was “excited” about what the longer term holds for Penix.
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