Tua Tagovailoa may no longer be a member of the Miami Dolphins, but one of the features of his tenure there has popped right back up with the Atlanta Falcons.
Tagovailoa is hurt. There are questions about his status. Nothing feels new about that.
The lefty who was discarded by the Dolphins this offseason in large part for contract reasons was supposed to be the Week 1 starter in Atlanta.
Tagovailoa was preparing for last week’s game against the Steelers when he hurt his oblique at Thursday’s practice. Instead of starting, he wasn’t able to take the field at all.
Now with a Week 2 matchup with the Carolina Panthers up next for Atlanta, Tua remains a question mark.
The latest updates came out on Wednesday, but nothing about them is encouraging. The Dolphins sure can relate.
Tua Tagovailoa Injury Update
Falcons head coach Kevin Stefanski (formerly of the Browns) met with reporters on Wednesday for his standard press conference and was bombarded with questions about the quarterback situation in Atlanta.
Not only is Tua hurt, but Michael Penix Jr. is still recovering from a knee injury, and Cooper Rush is dealing with a back ailment, and the only other QB on the roster is an undrafted rookie from Division II ranks, Jack Strand.
It certainly seems like the job is there for the taking for anyone who can simply get healthy enough to jog onto the field.
Tagovailoa, though, is still a question mark.
Stefanski told reporters that Tagovailoa isn’t going to practice on Wednesday.
Stefanski: Tua is not going to practice today, but he’s getting better. #Falcons
— Marc Raimondi (@marcraimondi) September 16, 2026
That still leaves Thursday and Friday to practice, but a quarterback not participating to start the week is not a good sign.
Stefanski also wouldn’t confirm whether Tagovailoa will start even if he is deemed healthy enough to do so.
Stefanski won’t say if Tua is healthy that he will be the starter. #Falcons
— Marc Raimondi (@marcraimondi) September 16, 2026
Reporters tried to see if Stefanski would rule anyone out, or discuss who will get first-team reps at practice, but he wasn’t biting on either of those.
It looks like for Tagovailoa and the rest of the Falcons, it’ll be a wait-and-see situation.
Dolphins Avoid Headache
The Dolphins got very familiar with Tagovailoa’s injury troubles, particularly concussions, and it made things tougher the last few years.
Miami got off of Tua’s deal because of the money owed to him, but part of the future risk did certainly come from his injury tendencies.
The Dolphins may not be in great shape at the moment, but it’d all feel worse if they had decided to keep Tagovailoa and then were dealing with injury bumps in the road like this right off the bat.
Instead, that’s all now a problem for the Falcons to deal with instead.
Tua Tagovailoa Injury Status Looks Familiar for Dolphins