The Falcons named Tua Tagovailoa their starting quarterback—but if you blinked, you missed the fine print
The Atlanta Falcons have named Tua Tagovailoa as their starting quarterback but there appears to be a catch.
There’s white smoke coming out of the Atlanta Falcons‘ facility! They’ve finally named a starting quarterback! His name is Tua Tagovailoa.
The Falcons are the NFL’s final team to call a starting quarterback race. But upon close inspection, it becomes apparent that there’s some fine print with the Falcons’ decision. You don’t need to look any further than the post released this morning from the team’s social media account for the evidence, either. Tua Tagovailoa is the starting quarterback…with a catch.
The Atlanta Falcons name Tua Tagovailoa their starting quarterback — with a catch
‘For Week 1’. That last little qualifier certainly feels like a significant one. It wasn’t all that long ago that the reports around Tagovailoa were that his play made it ‘impossible’ to name him as the starter. Yet here we are, which should have every Falcons fan checking the calendar to follow up on how far removed Michael Penix Jr. is from being cleared for 11-on-11.
It certainly feels like Penix Jr. would have won this job if he hadn’t run out of time. And there’s no shame in how the Falcons have handled this situation, either. They’re paying Tagovailoa the league minimum. He’s got six years of starting experience in the NFL — although he’s far from the player he was just a few years ago. The fall off of Tagovailoa physically has been the most stunning part of his regression. He was, at baseline, sufficient in several physical traits. It appears as though he’s no where close to that now.
And so the Falcons will roll ahead with him anyway to start this season. Not because Tagovailoa has won the starting job. But because the Falcons need someone to keep the seat warm until Penix Jr. is ready to roll. NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport said as much on Monday morning.
“The hope at the beginning of camp was for Tua to come out and just win the job. Let Michael Penix rest and rehab and recover — all of that. Uh…that was certainly not the case. Tua has been…left a little bit to be desired,” said Rapoport.
Uh huh. Tua Tagovailoa is your Week 1 starter. But we can all read between the lines. Your real starter is Michael Penix Jr. and he’s just not ready to roll yet.
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