Overview
- At the NFL Annual Meeting in Phoenix, head coach Kevin Stefanski said QB1 will be earned in a competition and that Tua Tagovailoa will run most offseason work until Michael Penix Jr. is cleared.
- Stefanski praised Tagovailoa as a football and personal fit in Atlanta and said the quarterback arrived seeking a true chance to compete for the job.
- Penix is rehabbing a partially torn ACL at the team facility with no return timeline, and the staff said they will not rush his recovery.
- Tagovailoa joined on a one-year veteran-minimum deal after Miami released him, a move that left the Dolphins with an NFL-record $99.2 million in dead money and let the Falcons add him at minimal cost.
- The coach linked his own firing in Cleveland to Tagovailoa’s Miami exit as shared fuel, and coverage notes Tua’s arc from leading the NFL in passing yards in 2023 to a late-2025 benching that now sets up a redemption bid in Atlanta.