Tagovailoa’s play makes it ‘impossible’ to win QB1

Three weeks ahead of the opening of the regular season, Stefanski seems no closer to naming a starting QB than he was at the start of training camp. Michael Penix, recovering from a 2025 ACL injury, made his return to 11-on-11 practice Monday while Tua Tagovailoa continued to struggled. “I can’t speculate on those types of things,” Stefanski said. “I want to really stay in today with Mike and see how he does in practice. I really have to stay in the moment with this one. Let’s see how he feels after today.” Penix on Monday completed four of his eight pass attempts in 11-on-11 drills while facing “simulated pressure.” Two of his passes came up “noticeably short,” per The Athletic’s Josh Kendall.

Penix was recently cleared for 11-on-11 practice and will participate in 11-on-11s on Monday. The third-year signal-caller has been working his way back from a torn ACL he suffered in November and will now have a few weeks to compete with Tagovailoa for the starting job. While it seems highly unlikely that Penix would win the QB1 job to start the season after being limited for most of camp, Tagovailoa hasn’t had the strongest of camps. Speaking on The Pat McAfee Show earlier, Adam Schefter said Tagovailoa “hasn’t run away” with the competition, suggesting a path could be open for Penix to win the job. We’ll see how these next few weeks unfold, but it’s possible the Falcons will delay naming a QB1 until it’s time to begin preparing for Week 1’s game against the Steelers.

It has been assumed that Tua Tagovailoa would be under center when games begin to count in two weeks, largely due to the health of Penix. Recent weeks have given some pause to that expectation considering the struggles of Tagovailoa and increasing health of Penix, with the current quarterback situation now much more up in the air as the team inches closer to the regular season. Penix now gains clearance to participate in 11-on-11 practices, a massive milestone in his recovery from a torn ACL suffered in November. The Falcons appear to be headed towards a situation in which they are one of the final teams to announce their Week 1 starting quarterback, although it could still fall on Tagovailoa’s shoulders out of necessity.

This is not parody, somehow. Penix infamously tore his right ACL twice while in college and then suffered a partial tear in his left ACL last year. The totally real doctor was presumably referring to his left knee. Penix, who hasn’t participated in team drills during training camp, later added that the only thing he can’t do in practice right now is take a hit. Last we checked, that is a major part of the game of football. Meanwhile, Tua Tagovailoa is slated to start the team’s preseason opener versus Denver later this week. Penix doesn’t seem to have much of a shot at being the Week 1 starter given his slow recovery, but the leash on Tua will be short. Penix remains the favorite to start more games this year, though only by a narrow margin.

Stefanski said the starters will get a series or about 10 plays, depending on what happens first. He declined to name a Week 1 starter. Michael Penix has not participated in team drills yet and Stefanski confirmed that he would not do so in joint practices with the Colts next week. The lack of practice reps likely means Penix is slated for backup duties to open the year, even if Stefanski isn’t willing to make that call just yet.

After missing the early part of training camp, Tua Tagovailoa has been back practicing with the team and reportedly turned in a solid session on Sunday, which was cut short by lightning. Michael Penix, who is still waiting to be fully cleared to return from the torn ACL that ended his 2025 campaign. The third-year signal-caller has been practicing in a limited capacity and said in late July that it might be “another four weeks” before he moves on to the next stage in his recovery. Regardless of what Stefanski says about naming his Week 1 QB, until Penix is officially cleared for full football activities, Tagovailoa feels like a safe bet to open the year as the starter.

This has been sort of the working assumption for a while as Tagovailoa is taking first-team reps while Michael Penix hasn’t been cleared for full-contact work yet. Tagovalioa remained limited with a back injury today in camp, but obviously if there’s no healthy Penix, there can be no competition.

Friday marked the first time Tagovailoa has had a chance to speak publicly with the media since training camp began. He hasn’t had a chance to practice in full with the team since camp opened, and said he isn’t sure when he will be a full participant, but also added that if this were a game week, he would likely be able to play. Tagovailoa has been sidelined since the start of camp with what has been reported as a “tight back” that flared up last week. It’s an issue he has never had to deal with before, per Tagovailoa, who said he believes the decision to sideline him early on is “just a precaution thing.” Tagovailoa’s quotes on Friday sound like those of a player who should be on the field sooner rather than later, but we’ll continue to provide updates on this situation until he is back in full capacity.

Tagovailoa has now been on the field in some capacity in back-to-back days, but he’s still not participating in team drills. Tagovailoa was sidelined to start practice this week due to a “tight back,” but the team hasn’t suggested this is anything to be concerned about. Hopefully these last two days are signs that Tagovailoa is trending toward a return in the near future. Until then, rookie UDFA Jack Strand will continue to work with the first-team offense.

Tua threw passes off to the side during individual reps but did not participate in team drills. He missed Wednesday’s session entirely with a “tight back,” according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter. Head coach Kevin Stefanski described it as a “flare up” but didn’t get into the specifics. A limited practice today is a step in the right direction, especially with Michael Penix still sidelined. Tua remains the heavy favorite for the starting job in Week 1. Undrafted rookie QB Jack Strand took reps with the first-team offense in Tagovailoa’s stead.