The Atlanta Falcons will go into Friday’s preseason finale against the Miami Dolphins with three quarterbacks available, but not the one many were expecting to see.
Head coach Kevin Stefanski said Wednesday that “Mike will not play,” and then laid out the plan for the game at Miami: Tua Tagovailoa will start, Cooper Rush will follow, and Jack Strand will finish the night.
Penix is also being held out because of his acclimation period. The 2024 eighth overall draft pick returned to 11-on-11 work this week after receiving medical clearance for the partially torn ACL he suffered last November. Until he was cleared to ramp up, Penix had been limited to 7-on-7 work and individual drills during training camp.
“Just got back to team drills on Monday,” Stefanski said. “So, I just felt to keep the focus on these three days and see how he came out of it. And I think he did well.”
That leaves the Falcons still sorting through their quarterback situation, with Penix competing with Tagovailoa for the starting job. Stefanski said there is no timetable for naming a QB1 for the Week 1 opener on Sept. 13 against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
“Not trying to be coy,” he said. “We’ll focus on what information is available to us.
This is something we need to work through. Tua was injured to start camp.
Mike’s been injured and not doing the 11-on-11. Every day, you’re just trying to make decisions based on who’s available to you.
The good news is very, very happy with our guys and the progress they’ve all made.”
Atlanta enters at 1-1, while Miami is 0-2, with kickoff set for 7 p.m. Friday at Hard Rock Stadium.
Tagovailoa will be facing the organization he spent six NFL seasons with before being released in March. Miami absorbed an NFL-record $100 million in dead cap money when it moved on from Tagovailoa.
Dead cap is money already paid to a player who is no longer on the roster. Atlanta was able to bring in Tagovailoa on the league minimum of $1.2 million, with that money going back to the Dolphins. The Falcons are dealing with a similar financial hit tied to Kirk Cousins, carrying a $22.5 million dead cap number this year and $12.5 million next season after releasing him two years into a four-year deal.
The game will air on FOX 5 Atlanta and CBS Miami.
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Bobby Slowik has already acknowledged the problems, pointing to the pass protection and pass catching issues that have surfaced in preseason action. With Jeff Hafley suggesting the starters may play against the Atlanta Falcons, the next chance to clean things up could come soon, but the bigger question remains whether Miami can turn those reset moments into something more reliable when it counts. [Read more 🡒]