Ever since the Atlanta Falcons signed Tua Tagovailoa, the burning question on everyone's mind is if he'll be the starting quarterback or if he'll back up Michael Penix Jr. in 2026. Both are pretty realistic scenarios, but the fact of the matter is that we won't have an answer until the QB battle kicks off.
Kevin Stefanski will have both signal-callers under the microscope during training camp, but it's starting to seem like this is Tua's battle to lose, which is a sentiment that Rich Eisen himself echoed. Not only will Penix be spending most of the offseason rehabbing his ACL tear, the 29-year-old has played at a higher level on a more consistent basis than him.
During the Rich Eisen Show yesterday, Eisen said the thinks that there's "no way" that Tagovailoa and Kyler Murray lose quarterback battles to Penix and J.J. McCarthy in Minnesota. He apparently doesn't see either of them as franchise QBs, even if they were first-rounders in a stacked class not long ago.
Honestly, it's a pretty ugly truth, but he's right. I still believe that the 25-year-old can still be a serviceable NFL QB. But the whole point of bringing Tua in on a vet minimum deal was having no risk involved, but for a Falcons team that's looking to compete immediately, the best option is obvious.
Tua Tagovailoa might already have the upper hand in the Falcons' QB competition
Eisen also noted the fact that the GMs who drafted both Penix and McCarthy in Terry Fontenot and Kwesi Adofo-Mensah are no longer employed by their respective franchises. Even if Ian Cunningham and Kevin Stefanski want to see things through with him, they don't owe him anything since they didn't draft him.
The Dirty Birds know they have red flags to remain mindful of with Tagovailoa, but both of their QBs have a lot of those. They both have lengthy injury histories, but at least Tua has led the Miami Dolphins to the playoffs in the past and it wasn't too long ago that he led the NFL in passing yards.
Even though he's been productive in recent seasons, the Alabama product looked awful in 2025. He threw 15 interceptions, his mechanics took a major step in the wrong direction, and was benched mid-season for seventh-round rookie Quinn Ewers. And he probably helped get Mike McDaniel fired.
He was affected by a hip injury suffered late in 2024 and could be better with that further into the past, but that doesn't excuse his dismal decision-making. Tagovailoa is heralded as one of the most accurate QBs in the NFL, but time and time again he made some of the worst throws I have ever seen.
The one thing that serves in his favor is that Penix is still in the midst of his ACL recovery and Stefanski probably wouldn't want to rush him back. That could give him some early first-team reps in camp, and if he performs well like Eisen expects, he could send Falcons Twitter into a frenzy by running away with the QB1 job and never looking back.