The Atlanta Falcons confirmed some expected news on Friday when they announced that veteran backup Cooper Rush will be the team’s starting quarterback over first-choice option Tua Tagovailoa for this coming Sunday’s Week 1 game at the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Tagovailoa suffered a reported oblique injury on Thursday, which led to Rush taking all of the first-team practice reps. Rush almost certainly won’t be a long-term answer at the position for the Falcons, but he could give first-year head coach Kevin Stefanski something to think about by playing well in Pittsburgh.
Will Tua Tagovailoa ever make a regular-season start for the Falcons?
Before it was learned on Thursday that Tagovailoa had endured a setback, a report suggested that he could be cut if he played poorly enough against the Steelers to be benched. Rumors about the Falcons possibly being done with their Tagovailoa experiment popped up in late August after he failed to impress during his preseason appearances and in training-camp practices.
Rush is only starting this weekend because 2024 first-round draft pick Michael Penix Jr. is still working to fully recover from the surgery he needed last fall to repair
a partially torn ACL. It’s currently unclear if he could be active for Atlanta’s Week 2 game against the Carolina Panthers on Sept. 20.
How Tua Tagovailoa could end this weekend at Atlanta’s QB4
“If Rush plays well enough to earn a second start in Week 2 vs. the Panthers, and if Michael Penix Jr. still isn’t ready to go, what happens with Tua? There was already a strong possibility he’ll be cut if/when benched,” NFL insider Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk shared on Friday afternoon. “If Rush’s performance allows him to jump a healthy Tua, the Falcons could move on. And if Rush gets injured on Sunday, undrafted rookie Jack Strand will make his debut. Frankly, he could be the best current option on the depth chart, given the possibility that he has a ceiling that could be reached, with time and reps.”
Uncertainty about Penix’s status makes it difficult to predict if Tagovailoa could be released as early as next week. That said, it seems ahead of the weekend that there is a chance Tagovailoa won’t be on Atlanta’s roster by the time Sept. 18 arrives.
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