Tua Tagovailoa Embraces Competition With Michael Penix Jr.

FLOWERY BRANCH – Tua Tagovailoa left the Miami Dolphins in search of a “fresh start,” and he found that with the Atlanta Falcons. The Falcons’ new quarterback understands that there will be no guarantees with his new team, and he looks forward to the opportunity to compete with Michael Penix Jr. for the starting role this offseason.

“I am no stranger to competition,” Tagovailoa told the media on Tuesday, his first time addressing them as a Falcon. “I would say competition is just going to be there, and competition enhances the play of everyone. You either are a competitor or you’re not. You don’t go from being a competitor to saying, ‘Ah, just let me relax a little bit.’ I just don’t think that’s how it works.”

Tagovailoa, 28, comes to Atlanta after a season he said was below his standard. The quarterback threw for a career-high 15 interceptions, and his poor performance forced former head coach Mike McDaniel to bench him during the regular season. Soon after, the Dolphins’ new-look front office opted to take on an NFL-record $99.2 million in dead money so they could release him earlier this year.

“My play wasn’t up to the standard of the way I’ve been playing football,” he said. “Just got to play better football. There’s no way to sugarcoat that.”

Tagovailoa signed a $1.2 million deal with the Falcons and will look to rehabilitate his image. He played six seasons in Miami, where he led the Dolphins to the playoffs twice, led the NFL in passing yards (2023), and finished with a 44-32 regular-season record.

Injuries piled up on the quarterback, and the veteran has missed eight games over the last four seasons due to concussions. He did say that he feels healthy moving into this season.

“The game of football will always entail physicality,” he said. “You can never foreshadow what the future is going to look like in terms of your health, whether it’s an ankle, a hand injury, or a concussion. In terms of health, I went through all the protocols of what I needed to do for the Falcons, and everything came out good.”

Should he win the competition, Tagovailoa will have a host of weapons in Atlanta that should help him achieve his goal. The potential he saw in this offense is one of the things that attracted him to the Falcons.

“You’ve got a good line, you’ve got Kyle Pitts, you’ve got Bijan Robinson, you’ve got Drake London. I’m excited to be able to use those weapons in OTAs and be able to work with these guys,” he explained. “I got to spend some time talking with [offensive coordinator Tommy Rees and head coach Kevin Stefanski] about the offense. They have shared some things that it won’t be as adamant as the way we would motion in Miami. There is going to be a reason for everything we do.”

Tagovailoa, alongside the newly signed Trevor Siemian, will lead the Falcons through their offseason program and work to earn the starting job this summer. The former Dolphins quarterback is still confident his career can get back on track.

“I think the best football is ahead of me,” Tagovailoa said. “You either love it, or you don’t. You either love the game or you don’t. You know the challenges that are ahead in terms of playing the sport with injuries.”

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