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Marc Raimondi
Multiple Authors
New Atlanta Falcons quarterback Tua Tagovailoa said he is comfortable competing for the starting quarterback job with Michael Penix Jr. after a season he deemed as below his standard.
Tagovailoa spoke to the media Tuesday for the first time since signing with the Falcons two weeks ago. He was released earlier this month by the Miami Dolphins, who took on an NFL-record $99.2 dead money against their salary cap to part ways with him. Tagovailoa lost his starting job last season after throwing a career-high 15 interceptions, two years removed from leading the league in passing yards.
“If you’re looking at last year, my play wasn’t up to the standard of the way I’ve been playing football the past … three years since the new contract,” Tagovailoa said during a virtual news conference. “So, just got to play better football. That’s what that really means. There’s no other way to sugarcoat that or go around that.”
The Falcons signed Tagovailoa to a veteran minimum contract: $1.3 million for one year. Atlanta general manager Ian Cunningham said two weeks ago that Tagovailoa will compete with Penix for the starting job, when Penix is healthy. Penix went down in Week 11 with a torn left ACL and needed reconstructive surgery.
Tagovailoa said he knows Penix a bit through Tagovailoa’s younger brother. He said he is happy to compete with Penix, as well as help the younger player. The Falcons drafted Penix at No. 8 overall in 2024.
“You’re either a competitor or you’re not, you just don’t go from being a competitor to ‘let me just relax a little bit,'” Tagovailoa said. “I just don’t think that’s how it works. … And so, I embrace the competition. I’m excited to work alongside with Mike and I’m excited to work with the team, with the guys. I think it’s going to be fun this year.”
Tagovailoa, who played six seasons in Miami, has had a history of concussions and missed six games due to a concussion and hip injury in 2024. He said that he has cleared all the necessary health provisions the Falcons gave him.
“The game of football will always entail physicality,” Tagovailoa said. “So, you can never foreshadow what the future is going to look like in terms of your health, whether it’s an ankle, whether it’s a hand injury, a concussion, a hip injury, whatever that may be. In terms of health, went through all the protocols of what I needed to do for the Falcons. Everything came out good. Some things are looking way better than the guys might’ve thought.”
Tagovailoa, 28, led the NFL in passing yards in 2023 with 4,624 and set a career high with 29 touchdown passes. He played that season in all 18 of Miami’s games, including an AFC wild-card loss to the Kansas City Chiefs. That offseason, he signed a four-year, $212.4 million extension with the Dolphins that made him the highest-paid player in franchise history.
As far as his last season in Miami, Tagovailoa was vague about the experience. He took teammates to task last October for being late to a players-only meeting and then later apologized for it.
Tagovailoa said the experience last year with the Dolphins was “unique.” When asked in what way, he replied: “In a lot ways.”
The Falcons also signed free-agent quarterback Trevor Siemian on Tuesday, according to a report from ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler. Siemian played most recently with the Tennessee Titans and has started 33 career games, mostly with the Denver Broncos in 2016 and 2017.
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