The Falcons’ quarterback plan could turn into a very short stay for Tua Tagovailoa.
That’s the warning from NFL insider Mike Florio, who suggested during NBC’s pregame coverage before Wednesday night’s regular-season opener between the Seattle Seahawks and the New England Patriots that Atlanta may not stick with Tagovailoa for long if things go sideways early. Florio said, per Andrew Hammond of AL.com: "If it doesn’t go well and he is benched again, I’m told there’s a strong possibility the Falcons will do what the [Miami Dolphins] did and cut Tua Tagovailoa."
Tagovailoa is set to start Week 1 against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday, but the battle for the job was never a full-on open competition. Michael Penix Jr. spent the spring and most of training camp working back from the surgery he had last fall to repair a partially torn ACL, which made his path to the lineup much slower than Tagovailoa’s.
The Falcons signed Tagovailoa to a one-year, $1.215M deal after Miami moved on from him in March. His final stretch with the Dolphins ended the same way it had once before: he was benched in December because of poor play, then officially cut this past March. In Atlanta, he flashed little in August, even if first-year head coach Kevin Stefanski and his staff reportedly believed Penix "needed more time" before he could be activated for a regular-season game.
Penix may be getting closer now. According to Will McFadden of the Falcons’ website, he said earlier this week that he is "really close" to being able to play against a live defense.
"I want to be stronger," Penix added at that time. "I want to be able to be out there and give the team 100%.
And if I don't feel like I can do that, that's not fair for this team. That's not fair for this organization.
I want to make sure whenever I am out there, I'm 100%, and there's no doubt in my mind that I trust my knee and that I trust being able to go out there and help this team win football games."
The Falcons will return home to face the Carolina Panthers on Sept. 20 after their Week 1 trip to Pittsburgh. For now, though, the bigger question may be whether Tagovailoa is still on the roster by the time Week 2 arrives.
As of Thursday morning, DraftKings Sportsbook had Atlanta listed as a 3.5-point road underdog against the Steelers.
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