Falcons’ Tua Tagovailoa Gamble Raises Eyebrows Across NFL: Experts Question Move Over Kirk Cousins

Of all the individual transactions that took place in what is the NFL’s busiest week of the year, there was one that drew universal pans from executives around the league. 

The Falcons, under new coach Kevin Stefanski, a longtime play caller who has a good reputation for coaching the quarterback position, immediately signed free agent Tua Tagovailoa, to the dismay of many.

Even some evaluators and coaches who hold Stefanski, a former two-time coach of the year with the Browns, in high esteemed were shocked at the haste with which the Falcons snatched up a quarterback who has fallen out of favor for his performance, medical history, leadership skills and some of the things he said as his career detailed in Miami. 

Atlanta has several elite pieces on offense and an array of talent that could truly blossom with a quarterback who can also push the ball down the field and unlock all quadrants, but instead the Falcons quickly opted for one who gets rid of the ball too quickly, relies on short passes to a staggering degree (the kind of heavy-traffic areas around the line of scrimmage that put pass catchers at risk), and brings a quirky, shall we say, dynamic to a quarterback room that already includes former first-round pick Michael Penix, who has failed to develop as the franchise expected to this point.

Is the Falcons QB Room Now Better Than At The End Of Last Season?

Specifically, several executives who have evaluated the entire market of available quarterbacks believe the Falcons actually took a possibly significant step back by moving on from Kirk Cousins, who they gave a huge contract two years ago, and bringing in Tagovailoa (even at the $1.3M veteran).

“Kevin’s a sharp guy, but this doesn’t add up,” said an executive with a team in the market for quarterbacks. 

“Seriously, I am at a loss. Would I have just kept Cousins, and I know he wants to be paid a lot more than $1M, yeah I would have. Look, you know I didn’t like Tua coming out (of college and into the NFL draft), and the last two years, man. No thanks.”

One general manager, pursuing quarterback help this offseason, said: “Cousins can push the ball (downfield) and loves play action. That’s a better fit to me in this offense… We weren’t going to touch Tua. Too many red flags.”

Tagovailoa has struggled on the road throughout his career, and over the last two years he has averaged just 6.2 air yards per attempt, 33rd and last among all qualified NFL passers. 

He ranked 32 of 33 passers in percentage of attempts that travelled 15 yards or more through the air and he ranked 27th in TD/INT ratio. His decision making has suffered. Miami was willing to absorb a $53M hit just to move on from him, and still was willing to invest roughly $25M a season on new quarterback Malik Willis.