ACL tear he suffered in November<\/a>, although there\u2019s hope he can return before the start of the 2026 season.\u00a0<\/p>\nBoth he and Tagovailoa, who was released by the Dolphins earlier this week after six seasons with the franchise, were told of the team\u2019s QB plans by the new regime of Cunningham, president of football Matt Ryan, and head coach Kevin Stefanski, before the signing.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYou don\u2019t want to blindside somebody, and that\u2019s just how we operate,\u201d Cunningham said. \u201cWe want to have open conversations and communication, and I feel like we did that in regards to Michael and Tua.\u201d<\/p>\n
Injuries aside, Penix has looked less than stellar when on the field, throwing for 2,757 yards with 12 touchdowns and six interceptions in 14 appearances while going 4-8 as a starter.\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"Atlanta](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/GettyImages-2246806127.jpg\")
Atlanta quarterback Michael Penix Jr. (9) warms up prior to the start of the NFL game between the Carolina Panthers and the Atlanta Falcons on November 16th, 2025 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, GA. Icon Sportswire via Getty Images<\/p>\n
The Falcons cleaned house after going 8-9 last season and falling short of the playoffs in the weak NFC South.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Atlanta has missed the postseason in eight straight seasons, which is the second-longest streak in the NFL.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Falcons also added wide receivers Olamide Zaccheaus and Jahan Dotson and tight end Austin Hooper, among others, this offseason to shore up their offense.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There is a quarterback competition brewing in Atlanta.\u00a0 After signing Tua Tagovailoa to a one-year, $1.3 million deal…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":810606,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2074],"tags":[223,254,2554,224,7,1879,6,89225,2592,9,3452],"class_list":{"0":"post-810605","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-atlanta-falcons","8":"tag-atlanta","9":"tag-atlanta-falcons","10":"tag-atlantafalcons","11":"tag-falcons","12":"tag-football","13":"tag-michael-penix-jr","14":"tag-nfl","15":"tag-nfl-free-agency-2026","16":"tag-nfl-free-agency","17":"tag-sports","18":"tag-tua-tagovailoa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116224285539782569","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/810605","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=810605"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/810605\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/810606"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=810605"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=810605"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=810605"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Tua](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/GettyImages-2254362830.jpg\")
Tua Tagovailoa of the Miami Dolphins looks on against the Cincinnati Bengals during the second half of the game at Hard Rock Stadium on December 21, 2025 in Miami Gardens, Florida. Getty Images<\/p>\n