Falcons Trade Rumor: Tua Tagovailoa Drawing Interest as QB Battle Reaches Final Stage

The Atlanta Falcons are entering their final preseason game with plenty of questions surrounding the quarterback position, and a new report has added another layer of intrigue to the competition.

Denver Broncos reporter Benjamin Allbright reported Thursday afternoon that multiple quarterbacks could be on the move in the coming weeks. Among the names he listed as receiving interest around the league were Falcons quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, along with Dillon Gabriel, J.J. McCarthy, and Anthony Richardson.

“Could see multiple QBs on the move in the next few weeks,” Allbright wrote. “All have had calls placed on them to varying degrees of interest.”

Could see multiple QBs on the move in the next few weeks.

-Tua
-Gabriel
-McCarthy
-Richardson

All have had calls placed on them to varying degrees of interest.
— Benjamin Allbright (@AllbrightNFL) August 27, 2026

The report does not indicate that the Falcons are actively shopping Tagovailoa, nor does it suggest a trade is imminent. It does, however, establish that there has been outside interest in the veteran quarterback as teams around the league evaluate their quarterback situations before the regular season.

For Atlanta, the timing is notable.

Tagovailoa will start Friday night against the Miami Dolphins in the Falcons’ preseason finale at Hard Rock Stadium. Michael Penix Jr. will not play as he continues working his way back from an ACL injury, while Kevin Stefanski continues to evaluate the quarterback competition.

The Falcons signed Tagovailoa this offseason to compete with Penix for the starting job, but the competition has remained unsettled. Penix had been limited during the early portion of training camp while recovering from his injury, and Tagovailoa missed the first week of training camp with a back injury.

Penix was cleared for 11-on-11 work earlier this week, marking the beginning of what was expected to be the true competition between the two quarterbacks.

However, Penix potentially winning the job remains very much in play because Tagovailoa has not separated himself from the former first-round pick in his limited time on the field.

That makes Friday’s game particularly important for Tagovailoa. While Penix will not have another preseason opportunity to make his case, Tagovailoa will have the chance to show Stefanski why he should be the team’s Week 1 starter in two weeks against the Pittsburgh Steelers.

The Falcons have set no deadline to name their starter for the Steelers game, with Stefanski joking that he’ll wait as long as the league allows him.

“Whenever they tell me I have to,” Stefanski said this week. “Honestly, not trying to be coy. Just a little focus on what's available to us, what information is available to us. Obviously, this has been something that we need to work through as people come back off of injury. I mean, Tua was injured to start camp, and then Mike's been injured, not doing the 11-on-11. So, you just 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.”

If Tagovailoa performs well against his former team, the trade rumors could quickly become secondary to his pursuit of the starting job and give the Falcons the luxury of giving Penix more time to recover from his surgery. If he struggles, however, the possibility of Atlanta ultimately choosing Penix becomes even more likely.

For now, Tagovailoa remains a Falcon and is scheduled to start Friday night. But with teams reportedly calling and the Falcons still searching for clarity at quarterback, his situation is one worth monitoring as the regular season approaches.

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