Tua Tagovailoa is looking for “a fresh start” as he joins the Atlanta Falcons for the seventh season in the NFL.
“Last year wasn’t the best year for me, and I’m looking for a fresh start in the sense of being able to compete, go back out and play good football,” Tagovailoa said Tuesday in his first public comments since signing a one-year free-agent deal with the Falcons.
He could be competing for the starting job with third-year quarterback Michael Penix Jr., whom Atlanta drafted eighth overall in 2024.
“Competition is just a thing in the NFL. I am no stranger to competition — had it in college,” Tagovailoa said. “I would say competition is just going to be there, and competition enhances the play of everyone. I don’t think the mindset changes at all. … I embrace the competition. I am excited to work alongside Mike.”
Tagovailoa, 28, comes to Atlanta after six seasons in Miami, where he was the No. 5 pick in the 2020 draft and finished with a 44-32 regular-season record as a starter and a loss in his only playoff appearance.
Penix Jr., 25, who is 4-8 in 12 career starts, suffered a season-ending ACL tear in Week 11 last season and will be limited through much of the team’s offseason work.
Tagovailoa “is coming in to compete, just like Michael knows that he’s coming in to compete,” Falcons general manager Ian Cunningham said on March 10.
“Everybody, not just those two, is coming in to compete. There are no starters right now,” Cunningham said. “We are excited to have Tua, but we’re excited to have all the players we were able to get (via free agency).”
The Falcons also plan to sign veteran free-agent quarterback Trevor Siemian, who is 15-18 in 33 career starts with the Denver Broncos, New York Jets, New Orleans Saints and Chicago Bears, according to ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler.
The Dolphins gave Tagovailoa a four-year extension worth a potential $212.4 million after the 2023 season, in which he passed for a career-high 4,624 yards and 29 touchdowns and finished third in the league in EPA per dropback (0.15). However, he was 12-13 as a starter in the last two seasons, finished 30th in the league in EPA per dropback (minus-0.01) and threw a career-worst 15 interceptions.
“My play wasn’t up to the standard of the way I’ve been playing football,” he said. “Just got to play better football. There’s no way to sugarcoat that.”
He will be playing in Atlanta for the veteran minimum of $1.2 million in 2026 while the Dolphins pay him more than $50 million to satisfy the guarantees in his 2024 extension.
“The best thing for me right now is making the best of this opportunity that I have with the team in terms of the relationships I make with these guys,” he said. “I get to freaking play football. This is what I dreamed of my entire life. I am going to be present. I’m going to be in the moment. I’m going to be where my feet are.”
Tagovailoa has missed eight games in the last four seasons due to concussions and has suffered four documented concussions, one at the University of Alabama and three in the NFL.
“The game of football will always entail physicality. You can never foreshadow what the future is going to look like in terms of your health, whether it’s an ankle, a hand injury or a concussion,” Tagovailoa said. “In terms of health, I went through all the protocols of what I needed to do for the Falcons. Everything came out good.
“You either love it or you don’t. You either love the game or you don’t. You know the challenges that are ahead in terms of playing the sport with injuries.”