Tua Tagovailoa’s final season in Miami ended with questions about his future, his confidence and whether the best version of him had already come and gone. In Atlanta, Kevin Stefanski is choosing to start somewhere else. 

The one trait that once made Tagovailoa one of the NFL’s most efficient passers. The new Falconshead coach praised Tagovailoa during organized team activities on Wednesday, saying the quarterback’s accuracy remains a defining skill even after a difficult 2025 season.

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“I think it’s [accuracy] the most important trait at the position,” Stefanski told reporters. “Some guys get better at it with tweaks to how they throw the ball, tweaks to their lower body, those types of things.”

Stefanski said all of Atlanta’s quarterbacks have the ability to trust their release and place the ball where they want it, but he made a point of singling out Tagovailoa.

“I think Tua, just in his career, as you’ve seen, just has that innate, God-given ability,” Stefanski said.

The former No.5 overall pick is entering his first season outside Miami after being released by the Dolphins, a move that carried a massive $99 million cap hit. He then signed a one-year, $1.215 million contract with the Falcons, turning 2026 into a prove-it season.

Tagovailoa must rebuild after Miami disappointment

Tagovailoa’s 2025 season damaged the momentum he had built earlier in his career. He threw for 2,660 yards, 20 touchdowns and a career-high 15 interceptions before being benched for the final three games.

That was a sharp fall for a quarterback who led the league with 4,624 passing yards in 2023 and topped the NFL in completion percentage in 2024 at 72.9 percent.

Still, the broader numbers explain why Atlanta is willing to bet on him. Since 2021, Tagovailoa owns a 68.6 percent completion rate, trailing only Joe Burrow among quarterbacks who have played at least 60 games in that span.

Tagovailoa said that precision was built through years of repetition with his father.

“If I don’t throw it this way to a certain part of the receiver, I just got to do it again and again,” Tagovailoa said. “It was the repetition aspect of that, but it’s just something that I’ve been blessed with through hard work and by the help of my dad.”

Quarterback plans can quickly change

Stefanski’s praise for Tagovailoa also comes with recent experience of how unstable a quarterback room can become.

Last season, he coached the Cleveland Browns through a year in which the team tested three different quarterbacks before eventually turning to Shedeur Sanders, who had entered the season as the fourth option on the depth chart.

That history makes his Atlanta evaluation especially interesting. Stefanski has already lived through a season where injuries, form and performance forced repeated quarterback changes, and he knows better than most that preseason plans can unravel quickly once real games begin.

For Tagovailoa, that means the Falcons’ competition with Michael Penix Jr. is not just about reputation or contract status. Stefanski has shown he will keep searching until he finds the quarterback who gives his offense the best chance to function.