Tua Tagovailoa

Tua Tagovailoa exited team drills due to an oblique issue after grabbing his back. Coming off a 2025 campaign where he posted a 67.7-percent completion rate and 12.6 fantasy points per game, this injury puts his Week 1 status in jeopardy.

Cooper Rush absorbed all first-team reps afterward, locking Tua Tagovailoa into a questionable status for Week 1. In case you needed another reason to run away from Tua, now you have it. The larger question remains: Will all of this Falcons QB tumult affect Drake London?

The Atlanta Falcons have named Tua Tagovailoa their Week 1 starter over Michael Penix Jr. against the Pittsburgh Steelers. Penix has been cleared to play, but he is not yet ready to start NFL games after tearing his ACL last November. Penix will be inactive, with Cooper Rush dressing as the backup QB.

Tagovailoa posted a 67.7% completion rate, 6.9 yards per attempt, and a mere 12.6 fantasy points per game in 2025.  He is a low-end streaming QB2 for Week 1. Once fully ramped up and active, Penix will be a mid-tier QB2 with significantly more long-term appeal than Tagovailoa. Monitor this situation as Penix is PlayerProfiler’s QB33 for fantasy football dynasty leagues.

The Atlanta Falcons will keep four quarterbacks on their initial 53 man roster. Former Dolphins QB Tua Tagovailoa and QB Michael Penix Jr. continue to compete for ATL QB1 with only one week to go until the 2026 season opener.

Penix, who is coming off an ACL injury, was cleared for 11 on 11 during the last week of ATL’s last preseason game. He seems to be the preferred option over veteran QB Tua Tagovailoa. The Falcons were expected to round out their QB room with former Cowboy QB Cooper Rush until Tagovailoa was held out of practice with back tightness early in camp. That opened the door for undrafted rookie Jack Strand to impress, as GM Ian Cunningham said Strand did an “admirable” job throughout camp.

If the Falcons decide they are confident in the health of Penix and his 13.7 fantasy points per game from 2025 and name him the starter over Tagovailoa (12.6FPPG in 2025), they would likely cut Rush or Strand and stick with 3 QBs.

~Justin Teck

This is a comically irresponsible prediction from a medical doctor about a player recovering from his third ACL injury (two to his right knee in college, one to his left knee last season). Despite limited practice involvement due to multiple past ACL injuries, Michael Penix Jr. remains expected to start the majority of games this season after averaging 13.7 Fantasy Points Per Game. Tua Tagovailoa takes the field first in the preseason opener, but his slim edge and historical 7.9 Accuracy Rating offer minimal job security.

Expect a volatile workload split driven by health and performance setting up a nightmare scenario for fantasy gamers, which will inevitably affect the skill position players in Atlanta from Bijan Robinson to Drake London to Kyle Pitts. Stay as far away from this QB room as possible and be sure to draft Gibbs over Bijan per the PlayerProfiler rankings.

What a mess. Adam Schefter reported that Tua Tagovailoa is dealing with back tightness, and soon after, the Falcons signed Cooper Rush for depth. Meanwhile, Michael Penix Jr. was seen Wednesday practicing in seven-on-seven drills but told local media that it would be another “another four weeks, probably, before going to the next stage.”

On July 31, 2026, Falcons beat writer Marc Raimondi reported that Tua Tagovailoa “did a walkthrough period at about half speed this morning.” Though NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport believes Tagovailoa will “likely start” Week 1 for the Falcons, this is the ultimate stayaway quarterback room in all fantasy football formats.

Drake London‘s projection is holding for now, but he needs baseline competence from the QB position to produce Top-10 WR fantasy numbers.