Quarterback Tua Tagovailoa will have to wait at least another week to make his Falcons debut. An oblique strain will shelve Tagovailoa for the Falcons’ season opener against the Steelers on Sunday, Cameron Wolfe of NFL Network reports. Cooper Rush will start.
Rush is stepping in because the Falcons are also without second-stringer Michael Penix Jr., who is not ready for game action 10 months after suffering a partially torn left ACL. Penix believes he is nearing a return, but with him unavailable this week, the Falcons will turn to undrafted rookie Jack Strand as their backup signal-caller.
Needless to say, this is not how the Falcons envisioned beginning the 2026 campaign when they reshuffled their QB room in the offseason. After releasing Kirk Cousins, the Falcons’ new regime – president of football Matt Ryan, general manager Ian Cunningham and head coach Kevin Stefanski – brought in Tagovailoa to compete with Penix for the starting job.
Tagovailoa joined Atlanta fresh off a six-year run in Miami, where he posted inconsistent production and dealt with a slew of injuries. Former Dolphins GM Chris Grier handed Tagovailoa a four-year, $212.4MM extension in 2024, but it ended in disaster for the team.
Grier lost his job last fall, and new Dolphins GM Jon-Eric Sullivan released Tagovailoa at the cost of a record $99.2MM in dead money during the offseason. With the Dolphins still on the hook for an exorbitant sum of money, the Falcons were able to scoop up the 28-year-old Tagovailoa on a deal worth the veteran minimum.
Tagovailoa rode into Atlanta as the favorite to start, and Stefanski did declare him the winner last week. However, the one-time Pro Bowler essentially backed into the role. Tagovailoa did not play well during the summer, but Penix was not healthy enough to participate in 11-on-11 drills for most of camp or appear in any preseason games. That left Stefanski with no choice but to hand the keys to Tagovailoa.
Depending on how their respective health situations unfold, Stefanski might have to choose between Tagovailoa and Penix again in the near future. There is a chance Tagovailoa will miss multiple games, as Stefanski said he is considered week-to-week (via Matt Zenitz of CBS Sports). If Penix returns before Tagovailoa, the latter may end up on the bench when he comes back.
This is not the first injury of the summer for Tagovailoa, who dealt with back tightness early in camp. With Tagovailoa and Penix out of commission at the time, the Falcons added Rush in late July. While Rush was a competent backup in Dallas for most of his run there from 2017-24, he spent several months in free agency this year after a rough season in Baltimore. The 32-year-old started for an injured Lamar Jackson in lopsided losses to the Texans and Rams. The Ravens demoted Rush to third string in October, and he finished the season 34 of 52 for 303 yards (5.8 per attempt), four interceptions and a horrid 48.8 passer rating.
Rush will now attempt to rebound with Atlanta, a team looking to break an eight-year playoff drought in 2026. The Falcons’ offense boasts premium talent in the form of running back Bijan Robinson, receiver Drake London and tight end Kyle Pitts, but QB uncertainty looks likely to weigh the team down again this year. That’s nothing new for Stefanski, who seldom had an answer at the game’s most important position during his 2020-25 stint as the Browns’ head coach.