With the trade deadline set to arrive in less than a week on Nov. 10, the NFL rumor mill is already spinning, and one of the more surprising names getting attention is Atlanta Falcons quarterback Tua Tagovailoa.
Tagovailoa’s season has been mostly spent on the sideline. The seventh-year quarterback and former Pro Bowler opened the year as the Week 1 starter, then landed on the backup track after an early oblique injury.
Since then, he has appeared in only one game for Atlanta - the 31-23 Week 5 loss to the Baltimore Ravens - and that outing ended with him throwing the overtime interception that sealed the game after Michael Penix Jr. left late in regulation with a rib injury. On the year, Tagovailoa has completed 2 of 3 passes for 34 yards.
He came to Atlanta on a one-year, $1.2 million deal after being released by the Miami Dolphins, with the idea that he could be a candidate to run the Falcons’ offense. Instead, he has spent the first half of the season holding a clipboard while Atlanta sits at 3-5.
So the real question is whether general manager Ian Cunningham should even entertain offers.
There are teams around the league in quarterback trouble, and Baltimore stands out. The Ravens are dealing with a mess under center: Lamar Jackson has battled an ankle injury for much of the season, then hurt his throwing-hand thumb in last week’s game against the Buffalo Bills. Backup Tyler ‘Snoop’ Huntley went down with turf toe in that same game and is out for the season, leaving undrafted rookie Joe Fagnano to take over.
Baltimore is last in the AFC North at 4-4, two games behind the Pittsburgh Steelers, but the division race is still alive. The Ravens are also one game back in the hunt for the seventh playoff spot.
Philadelphia is another team worth watching after the handling of Jalen Hurts’ blood clot situation, though the Eagles may wind up selling at the deadline outside of running back Saquon Barkley.
Still, if a team wants Tagovailoa, the contract makes him easy to fit in.
That’s part of the argument against moving him. Atlanta has already seen enough quarterback chaos this season, with a carousel that included Cooper Rush and Jack Strand before things settled into the current setup. Andy Dalton is now the emergency third-string quarterback, and with Penix dealing with durability questions after three torn ACL injuries - plus the scare when he injured his ribs against Baltimore - the Falcons don’t exactly have a surplus of stability.
Tagovailoa may not be the perfect answer, but he is the only other quarterback on the roster besides Penix who can realistically give Atlanta a chance to win games. He was not long ago leading the NFL in passer rating, yardage, and completion percentage, and his passer rating last season in Miami was better than both Penix and Kirk Cousins’ passer rating for the Falcons last season.
If Atlanta had benched Penix after four interceptions, Tagovailoa might have been the next man up. He may not be a clean fix, but he is the best option they have.
The other side of the debate is simple: what would the Falcons actually get back? A quarterback making a little over a million dollars probably wouldn’t bring much in return, likely something in the Day 3 draft range. That kind of haul doesn’t move the needle for a team still in the mix for the NFC South title, even after a season that has been all over the place.
If the return isn’t a real upgrade - or a true heist like the Gervon Dexter Sr. trade - the case is to keep him.
For those leaning toward holding onto Tagovailoa, he gives Atlanta insurance in a quarterback room that could still be looking to the 2027 NFL Draft. For those ready to move on, the answer may be patience: he could be gone in a matter of months and looking for his next stop.
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Michael Penix Jr. Gets One Immediate Chance To Silence Falcons Doubts
Michael Penix Jr. got a harsh introduction to the kind of defensive game-planning that can speed up a young quarterbacks learning curve. Against Tampa Bay, Todd Bowles defense kept pressure on him and mixed in zone looks that disrupted his timing and decision-making, turning a difficult afternoon into one the Falcons would rather leave behind as quickly as possible.
Now comes a different kind of test, and potentially a cleaner chance for Penix to reset the conversation around his play. Cincinnati does not present the same blitz-heavy challenge Tampa Bay did, and the matchup should give Atlanta a better read on how Penix handles a defense built more around man coverage than constant pressure, which is the sort of look that can tell a lot about where his comfort level really is. [Read more 🡒]