Kevin Stefanski and the Atlanta Falcons have chosen their starter for their Week 1 matchup with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Just because Tua Tagovailoa will trot out at Acrisure Stadium doesn't mean he'll be back there when the Falcons host the Carolina Panthers the following Sunday. Stefanski didn't commit to a long-term decision behind center.
Michael Penix Jr., who Tagovailoa had been battling with for the job for months, will be inactive for the clash against the Steelers, leaving Cooper Rush to serve as Tagovailoa's understudy.
"I've got the blinders on, so I see Week 1 in front of me and after this one, then we'll start on the next one and those type of things," Stefanski said. "So, I don't think it's fair to really go past this week on anything related to our football team."
Why the Falcons won't commit to Tua Tagovailoa
Tagovailoa, who spent the first six seasons with the Miami Dolphins, joined Atlanta on a one-year, $1.3 million deal in the offseason. Penix, the Falcons' first-round pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, suffered a torn ACL last November and wasn't cleared for action in 11-on-11 team periods until the final week of training camp.
Penix didn't see any snaps during the Falcons' preseason contests, either. It's fair to say thrusting Penix in after a lack of seeing live bullets fly would've been a pretty tough ask.
"I think every decision I make for the football team, you're taking in all the information available to you," Stefanski said of Penix's status for the regular season opener. "Sometimes information changes and certainly with a decision like this, you want to make sure that you're taking all the information from the spring to the summer to how people are performing — those type of things. So felt really strongly about this group and feel good about where we're heading."
The Falcons just can't find a stable quarterback
Penix, 26, the No. 8 overall draft choice in 2024, has made 12 starts for the Falcons, going 4-8. He passed for 1,982 yards, nine touchdowns and three interceptions in 2025. Still, being that he was taken so high, it will be hard for Atlanta to punt on Penix so quickly — yes, the Minnesota Vikings have with J.J. McCarthy, but this is a different circumstance.
This will be the sixth season in a row that the Falcons start a different quarterback in Week 1. Tagovailoa follows Penix (2025), Kirk Cousins (2024), Desmond Ridder (2023), Marcus Mariota (2022) and Matt Ryan (2021).
Stefanski has talked this offseason about the theme of Tagovailoa's season being how he responds to the adversity he's faced. The Dolphins ate eating an exorbitant amount of money in order to move on from him and start anew with free-agent addition Malik Willis.
During his half-dozen campaigns in Miami, Tagovailoa went 44-32, including a 6-8 mark last season. He threw for only 190.0 yards per game during that go-round, tossing 20 touchdowns and 15 interceptions.
Of course, how Tagovailoa fares against the Steelers will help decide how sure it is that he gets to run out against the Panthers. Penix will probably have a close eye on what goes down.
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