Why Tua Tagovailoa says Falcons’ locker room is one of best he’s been part of
FLOWERY BRANCH — Tua Tagovailoa is only 12 practices and a bevy of meetings into his time with the Falcons, but the 28-year-old quarterback already feels comfortable after six seasons with the Miami Dolphins.
“I think it’s been a really cool transition — it’s been really smooth,” Tagovailoa said Wednesday after finishing minicamp. “I think this is one of the best locker rooms I’ve been a part of.”
Tagovailoa has committed himself to building relationships with his new teammates, stretching beyond his fellow quarterbacks and the offense at large. He’s talked to several of the team’s defensive players, some of whom he played against while starting under center for the Dolphins, to pick their brains.
But the basis of Tagovailoa’s faith in the Falcons’ locker room is faith itself. There are, of course, discussions about football, but there’s not a lot of small talk. Tagovailoa has skipped the mundane and focused on sharing meaningful conversations with his teammates, which has, in turn, started creating meaningful relationships.
“Guys talking about their families, what their families mean to them and what football is able to provide for them throughout whatever their family’s going through in that initial moment,” Tagovailoa said of those conversations.
Since signing with the Falcons in mid-March, Tagovailoa has often referenced the value in getting a fresh start after a tumultuous tenure in Miami.
The Ewa Beach, Hawaii, native delivered plenty of highlights, including leading the NFL in passing in 2023 and topping the league in completion rate in 2024, but he only made the playoffs once and threw 15 interceptions in 14 games last season.
The Falcons offer a chance for Tagovailoa, the No. 5 overall pick in the 2020 draft, to turn the page. And his newest chapter appears to feature a mindset fixed on perspective and gratitude for the opportunity at hand — something the Falcons’ locker room, and all of the inner discussions about family, has rekindled within him.
“Being able to be here, get away and being able to sort of look back and think, ‘When I was 10 years old, this is what I’ve always wanted to do,’” Tagovailoa said. “Now that I have a family, things kind of change. But I’m still able to live out my dream, being able to take care of them.”
Tagovailoa, who started 76 games for the Dolphins, impressed during OTAs and mandatory minicamp. Falcons coach Kevin Stefanski said Tuesday he won’t hand out starting jobs in June, and quarterbacks coach Alex Van Pelt said a formal announcement of the starter — expected to be either Tagovailoa or Michael Penix Jr. — likely won’t come until multiple weeks into training camp.
And while Tagovailoa enjoyed a productive first month of throwing passes, he’s had a strong start off the field, too. He’s an authentic leader, said Stefanski, who noted that’s the best way to get the most out of the rest of his teammates.
Tagovailoa has also impressed the Falcons with how quickly he’s learned the system. He has “great institutional knowledge of offensive football” thanks to the past schemes and coaches he’s played under, Stefanski said, but a new system always comes with a learning curve.
There’s different verbiage, different formations, different motions. But Tagovailoa, whose skill set is predicated on rhythm and timing, has picked up Stefanski and offensive coordinator Tommy Rees’ offense rather quickly.
“I think he’s done a great job of attacking the learning portion of this,” Stefanski said. “And then just getting comfortable in the scheme, getting comfortable in the drills, getting comfortable with your teammates. It’s something that, when you’re new, you just have to work at it.
“And I’ve seen a young man who’s really working at it.”
There’s no animosity within the Falcons’ quarterback room. Tagovailoa and Penix, locked in competition, insist they won’t put their battle above the team’s well-being.
“It’s been nothing but good since he got here,” Penix said. “We know we’re in competition, but at the same time, we are on the same team. We have the same goals, and that’s to see this team win football games and help do that in our way.
“Man, we’ve been good together, and it’s always going to be like that.”
Tagovailoa’s laid-back, easygoing nature has garnered praise from teammates, and it’s central to the reason he’s meshed well with Penix. Star receiver Drake London said last month the two quarterbacks were “getting along very, very well,” despite never meeting each other until this spring.
It isn’t tough, Tagovailoa said, to put the team ahead of the unknown of his own starting ambitions. His reasoning? Faith, of course. It’s the force behind all of this — his perspective on new beginnings, his approach to the competition and his bond to the locker room.
And now, faith has carried Tagovailoa to a headspace of gratitude in the midst of an all-important summer as he tries to resurrect his career as a starting quarterback.
“I’m a competitor, don’t get me wrong, but I’m also a believer, too,” Tagovailoa said. “And I believe if it’s God’s plan for me to play here, not to play here, I’m OK with it. There’s nothing wrong with that. I believe there’s a greater purpose than this being a game.
“It’s just a game that we’re able to play, and we’re able to take care of our families through this game. And I’ve been so freaking blessed, so fortunate to be able to have this opportunity and to have been blessed with the gifts that I have.”