MARCH 13: Like Russell Wilson in 2024 and Kyler Murray on Thursday, Tagovailoa agreed to a veteran-minimum contract following a high-profile release. The former Dolphins starter, who will compete with Penix for the Falcons’ QB1 gig, will do so for barely $1MM, CBS Sports’ Jonathan Jones confirms. This will cut into Miami’s historic dead money bill, but not by much.
Exercising Tagovailoa’s 2026 option bonus before his release (per the Miami Herald’s Barry Jackson), the Dolphins will be tied to a $55.4MM dead money hit this year. That breaks Wilson’s single-season record ($53MM). Tagovailoa will count $43.8MM against Miami’s 2027 cap.
MARCH 9: The Dolphins are planning to release Tua Tagovailoa, and just a few hours later, he has found a new team. The 28-year-old quarterback will be moving one state north to join the Falcons, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
As expected, Tagovailoa will receive a one-year, veteran-minimum deal in Atlanta, per CBS Sports’ Jonathan Jones, as Miami is still paying him $54MM this season. He will join fellow lefty Michael Penix Jr. in a Falcons quarterback room that will likely soon lose Kirk Cousins.
In fact, Tagovailoa projects as the team’s bridge starter as Penix works his way back from knee surgery, filling a role that could have kept Cousins in Atlanta. Instead, the veteran should now get the opportunity to pick a new team that he did not receive last offseason.
Considering Tagovailoa’s drastic fall since his 2023 Pro Bowl nod, Atlanta is a fine landing spot for the former first-round pick. The Falcons have been non-committal on Penix’s status as their franchise QB, and his injury will give Tagovailoa an opportunity to rebuild his stock surrounded by a strong supporting cast.
The Falcons have a solid offensive line and exciting young skill position players like Drake London, Bijan Robinson, and Kyle Pitts. But Tagovailoa’s struggles over the past two seasons will still give him an uphill battle in convincing Atlanta’s new leadership that he, not Penix, is the quarterback to steward the team’s offense into the future.
Finding no trade takers, the Dolphins will designate Tagovailoa as a post-June 1 cut Wednesday. That comes as little surprise, as it will allow Miami to spread out the record-breaking $99.2MM dead money charge in this case over two years. Thanks to Tagovailoa’s guarantees on his contract, he could account for $67MM a dead cap charges in 2026 as the Dolphins move forward with their full-scale roster reset.
Benched before Week 16 last season, Tagovailoa would welcome a fresh start. His four-year, $212.4MM extension — which included a $54MM 2026 option bonus that shifted from an injury guarantee to a full guarantee in March 2025 — backfired quickly. Still, Tagovailoa played well for much of the 2022 and ’23 campaigns.
Tua, 28 in May, led the league in yards per attempt and passer rating in 2022, passing yards in 2023 and completion percentage in 2024. Concussion concerns resurfaced in 2024, and Tagovailoa missed six games that year. His 2025 season continued a downward trajectory. But at the veteran minimum, the Falcons will take a flier.
If Tagovailoa were to make that a serious consideration later this year, it would create a fascinating dynamic in Atlanta. The Falcons surprised many by selecting Penix with the No. 8 pick in the 2024 draft weeks after signing Cousins to a four-year, $160MM deal with $90MM guaranteed. Cousins started the regular season strong, but struggled with turnovers down the stretch and was replaced by Penix. He went into 2025 as the unquestioned starter with Cousins trying to force his way out of Atlanta. But Penix did not inspire much confidence himself before partially tearing his ACL, leaving the Falcons in a tricky spot this offseason.
Normally, a quarterback’s third season (second as a starter) is a good litmus test for their long-term capabilities. But Penix will not get that type of opportunity, as he is expected to miss offseason practices as the team transitions to Kevin Stefanski‘s coaching staff. Instead, Tagovailoa will have the first opportunity to impress the new regime on the field.
Well at least this constantly beat up quarterback will be cheap. There are worse guys to operate for Stefanski.
Jets forced into Plan B and that might be the ex-Redskin/Viking/Falcon Kirk Cousins. You like that?
Plan B? You think Tua was Plan A? No chance. They’ve been looking at Wentz and Kyler as option A
Lol. Wentz and option A in the same sentence.
It’s the Jets. Brick is reviewing Wentz’s Madden rating as we speak.
You had me grinning on that one. Love it.
lol. Poor Falcons fans. I feel for you guys.
Tua is two concussions away from forced retirement. Falcons should have contacted Murray first, imo.
If they are keeping Penix it’s logical to have a second lefty. And Murray sucks. Tua has at least put up good numbers, just a soft head and can’t play in bad weather.
Problem is that Tua now has to play half of his games at a stadium that deploys artificial turf. And I also think that since Penix is lefty, the Falcons should have signed right handed QB to differentiate between QBs. But that’s just me.
Their blindside protection is based on a lefty QB so it makes sense to have continuity with your line.
I Didn’t even consider these. Really solid point
I would think the falcons turf is better than Miami’s sandy ground.
They play on the beach. Most people dont know that about their stadium. Its not real grass or artificial, its sand.
And ACL’s love sand.
Tua doesn’t have knee issues and having a righty to differentiate from a lefty is dumb. That is just you.
“differentiate between QBs”
What? This isn’t baseball where you need to platoon players. It’s probably beneficial to have two lefties versus being split. Line and protection schemes won’t have to be altered. Ball comes out and ‘arcs’ the same to WR’s, etc.
I preferred Kyler or Brissett but I’m not mad at this. He’s a rental at the end of the day. Worth a bag of Doritos
Just got to ask .. why Kyler? He doesn’t care. He just wants to play street ball basically. Not the right guy to lead ANY team, no matter what his talent level is ‘perceived’ to be.
Kyler still has huge playability and would rally a fanbase for an electric mobile black QB. He also ran a lot of sweep plays in college and earlier nfl career which opens up for Bijan London and pitts
Rally a fanbase? Gotta win to do that. He did that for a whole single season and now refuses to run the ball. No thanks.
I give the majority of the Falcons fanbase more credit than that. They rallied around Kirko when he signed. Then started to rally around him last year when he showed he was clearly the better QB and was mostly healthy again.
At least Tua puts in the effort and tries to lead by holding others accountable. The concussions are a problem, and I have always thought he benefited greatly from Tyreek but would still rather have him over Kyler personally. The Cards aren’t dumping him for physical ailments .. that tells you a ton.
He’s not electric, he likely isn’t mobile anymore, and he doesn’t have “huge” play ability. Oy.
This QB battle will be simply a war of attrition lol
This has to be the first time where a team had 2 lefty quarterbacks
Looking quick on Pro Football Reference, the 1997 Jags had Brunell and Steve Matthews who both played. Though Matthews was a QB3 with behind Rob Johnson.
Real good find, with this situation who knows how many starts Tua and Penix will get
Man Brunell was something else with Jacksonville!
Good find, brother.
The Tua signing along with the other 6 players signed by the Falcons is making me feel Dizzy, especially signing Tua.!
Hey Stefanski!!!
Playing these types of quarterbacks didn’t work out too well in Cleveland. Why are you trying this again???
Two Lefts don’t make it Right !
No, but 3 does. Tim Tebow come on down!
Tua has his flaws, even big ones, but he still is a decent QB (and better than Murray or Brissett). Since Atlanta is simply spending league minimum on him, this is a huge bargain already.
Gruß,
BSHH
Not sure who the third string QB is but the should get a lefty so it can be
All
Throw
Lefty
I see what you did there, and it was bad. Creative .. but bad. Still, you get a point for creativity.
I’d be willing to bet Dillon Gabriel can be had. He played for Stefanski last season and he matches the theme.
Question is .. was Gabriel really that good in college, or was he a product of the system he was in? Oregon spits out overrated QB’s and the same rate as Ohio State and Saban’s Bama teams.
You are correct in that he might be readily available, but Falcons would have to find a taker for Penix at this point.
Yes, he was. He was very good at UCF before he got injured and he was solid at Oklahoma. In fact, he put up the same amount of TDs at Oklahoma in two less games as he did at Oregon the next year.
He’s been good everywhere he’s gone. Even this past year, he looked solid albeit without showing the upside as a downfield passer. He should be at worst a solid backup for years to come.
Tua doesn’t have a strong arm, he isn’t mobile, he doesn’t play well in cold weather, he’s short, he’s stocky, he’s not tough. Accuracy and being cheap is all he has going for him. This move is booty cheeks. If he was just a backup and that was it. It would be an okay move, but he is being brought in to compete with Penix. Bagent or Flacco would have been a better move. At this point we already brought back former Falcons Zaccheus and Hooper. Since we are doing horrible QB signings and bringing back former Falcons. Let’s just bring in Desmond Ridder while we are at it.
Now you done gone and done it. I will have nightmares now.
Maybe the Falcons are about to tank. They still have their first for 2027. Make it look like you are trying but tank. Trade Pitts, Bijan, Matthews, Bates, and London and pile up some picks.
On a serious note though, you are correct on everything you said about Tua .. but .. if he can stay healthy he is still light years better than the man who had one of the worst ‘on target’ percentages in Falcons, and maybe NFL, history. That being said, somehow Penix had a very good TD/INT ratio. Part of that is not throwing timing routes or taking a risk to throw a WR open, but it’s still there. Maybe his off-target ‘ability’ was so bad that even the opponents couldn’t get to them for picks. 🙂
Cousins is a far better option regardless of what his numbers have been recently
This is a 💩 show that’ll be fun to watch. One is 25 the other 28. Both are lefties, both are injury prone (Penix with 3 ACL tears, Tua with some brutal concussions), both have cost their head coaches their jobs. Both are immobile and are not accurate down the field.
The only good thing is that it keeps continuity for the receivers not having to go from a left handed QB to a right handed one.
Hawk Tua
brittle quarterback crew .. hope the falcons have a decent third stringer ready to go about week 8
Tua should be in the UFL
No cap
At the low rate, Tua is an ideal backup/fill-in QB. While he’s too fragile to start a season, he can come in and win a few games.
Tua should be thinking hard about retiring. Ending up with serious mental struggles due to concussions is just not worth it, even the millions.
Backup QB would be about the right gig for him.