On Friday night, the Miami Dolphins will host the Atlanta Falcons at Hard Rock Stadium. It will mark the team’s third and final preseason game.
Whether the Dolphins treat this game as a dress rehearsal and play their starters or whether they decide to rest the starting unit remains to be seen.
However, perhaps the most intriguing aspect of Friday night is not on the Dolphins side of things as the game will feature the return of quarterback Tua Tagovailoa.
Atlanta Falcons Announce Decision on Former Miami Dolphins Quarterback
Atlanta Falcons head coach Kevin Stefanski announced that former Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa will start Friday’s preseason game. After being released by the Dolphins this offseason, Tagovailoa signed with the Falcons on a one-year deal worth the veteran minimum, as Miami is still set to pay Tagovailoa $54 million in the 2026 season.
Tagovailoa is currently in a competition with Michael Penix Jr. for the starting job in Atlanta. Penix Jr. will not play on Friday as he continues to recover from ACL surgery.
Prior to training camp, Tagovailoa was expected to win the competition due to Penix Jr.’s injury. However, despite Penix Jr. missing most of the offseason program, Miami’s former quarterback was unable to secure the position as he failed to impress in training camp.
Regarding Tagovailoa’s disappointing play and Atlanta’s quarterback competition, NFL insider Ian Rapoport said, “It really seemed that the goal of the entire organization was to have Tua be the starting quarterback right away to start the season. Let Michael Penix come along slow. … Really you’d like him to be inactive for the first several games and really just take his time and make sure he’s fully healthy…
Tua’s play made that impossible, not just in the preseason game, which we’ve seen, but it sounds like practice as well. All of which is to say, this is Michael Penix’s job for the taking.”
Dolphins vs Falcons
With the Falcons yet to announce their Week 1 starter, Friday night will be a massive opportunity for Tagovailoa to seize Atlanta’s starting job. Whether Miami’s starting defense will stand in the way of their former quarterback remains to be seen.
Rarely does a preseason game have as many implications as Friday’s does. Tagovailoa, who served as Miami’s starting quarterback for six seasons and led the team to the postseason twice, will likely need a strong performance against his former team to keep his status as an NFL starter.
Perhaps not only will Tagovailoa’s chances of earning a starting job be on the line, as ESPN’s Mark Zinno seems to believe Tagovailoa might be playing for a spot on the roster. Zinno posted on X: “Michael Penix will be the starter Week 1. Yes, even without playing in the preseason. The QB “competition” never materialized in the true sense of one, but one thing was clear. Tua didn’t play well enough to win the job.
I’ll go one even further … Tua is playing Friday night for a SPOT ON THE ROSTER! I think it’s totally conceivable that he could be cut. Ask yourself, what’s the real difference, in 2026, between Tua, Cooper Rush & Jack Strand? Hard for me to find one.”
Falcons Announce Tua Tagovailoa Decision Before Dolphins Game