For all his flaws, Tua Tagovailoa gives Falcons something they lack

FLOWERY BRANCH — Everybody knows the reasons why Tua Tagovailoa can’t win the starting quarterback job with Falcons.

He’s not durable. His throwing arm is shot. Tagovailoa once led the NFL in passing yards, but he just doesn’t have it anymore.

Maybe that’s true. I wouldn’t count Tagovailoa out, though, because he’s got what coach Kevin Stefanski calls “the most important trait at the position.”

Tagovailoa is a very accurate passer. He put the ball on target at a high clip while leading Alabama to a national championship and SEC title. Tagovailoa did the same during six seasons with Dolphins, even as so many other things started going wrong.

It’s been a long time since the Falcons had a quarterback who consistently delivered the ball where it should go. Michael Penix Jr.’s inability to do that is one reason he’s facing competition from Tagovailoa this summer.

“Some guys get better at it with tweaks to how they throw the ball, tweaks to their lower body, those types of things,” Stefanski said. “But there is an innate ability — and all of our quarterbacks have this — to let the ball go, and it’s going where you want it to go. Not to say you are not going to miss throws …

“But all of our guys possess that innate quality of letting it go and knowing where they want it to go. Tua, in his career as you have seen, just has that innate, God-given ability.”

Tagovailoa credited his passing accuracy to practice sessions with his father, Galu, while growing up.

“(He) basically told me, ‘You’ve got to throw it this way,’ and if (you) don’t throw it this way to a certain part of the receiver, you’ve just got to do it again and again,” Tagovailoa said. “So, (it’s) the repetition aspect of that. It’s just something that I’ve been blessed with through hard work and by the help of my dad.”

Tagovailoa’s passing accuracy is one reason he was among the most coveted recruits when he was in high school in Hawaii. At Alabama, Tagovailoa led the SEC in completion percentage in 2018 (69%) and was second to LSU’s Joe Burrow in 2019 (71.4%).

Tagovailoa’s accuracy has remained high against the best competition. Per NFL tracking data, he was the most accurate passer in the league for the past three seasons.

Expected completion percentage is the probability of a pass being completed based on the location of the ball. Tagovailoa ranked No. 2 in that metric in 2025, No. 1 in 2024 and No. 4 last season (minimum 135 pass attempts).

Penix’s expected completion percentage in 2025 ranked 31st among qualifying players. He ranked 30th in 2024. Since the NFL began tracking the statistic in 2018, the highest ranking for a Falcons quarterback was 10th by Matt Ryan in 2021. Ryan is now the team’s president of football.

Tagovailoa said traits other than accuracy are important for a quarterback.

“Being able to distribute the ball to your playmakers,” he said. “Being a leader is another aspect of that regardless of what that looks like, whether you are a ‘rah-rah’ guy or lead by example. There are many attributes and traits you can put on that, outside of just being accurate, that makes a good quarterback.”

The Dolphins drafted Tagovailoa with the No. 5 overall pick in 2020. He was a good starter for them in 2022 and 2023. They decided last season that Tagovailoa was no longer the answer.

After the Dolphins were eliminated from the playoffs with a loss in Week 15, coach Mike McDaniel benched Tagovailoa for rookie Quinn Ewers. At the time, McDaniel said the Dolphins needed “convicted quarterback play.”

The main problem for Tagovailoa was putting the ball at risk too often. Tagovailoa’s 15 interceptions in 2025 were the second-most in the league behind Geno Smith (17).

Pro Football Focus credited Tagovailoa with 25 “turnover-worthy” plays against 18 “big-time throws” in 440 drop backs with an average target depth of 7.2 yards. For Penix, it was eight big-time throws and 11 turnover-worthy plays in 303 drop backs with an average target depth of 8.8 yards.

Tagovailoa is getting a chance to show that he still can be an effective NFL starter. He said he signed with the Falcons for an opportunity to compete for the job and to get a “fresh start” in football. That should benefit Tagovailoa after he went from Pro Bowl player to benched in less than two seasons with the Dolphins.

Frank Smith was Dolphins offensive coordinator during Tagovailoa’s last four seasons in Miami. Smith appeared on a recent episode of ex-Dolphins lineman Terron Armstead’s podcast and had this to say about Tagovailoa:

“As long he keeps true to himself and always maintains who he is and has that conviction and that belief in himself and how he needs to play to be at his best, he can be as good as he wants to be. Because he’s shown he can be at the ceiling of ability at this level and can play at an extremely high level.”