Falcons QB Tua Tagovailoa battling back injury, out for start of training camp
FLOWERY BRANCH — The Falcons already are having an interesting start to training camp.
Quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, who signed in the offseason to compete with Michael Penix Jr. for the starting job, is dealing with a back injury and won’t participate in the team’s first training camp practice Wednesday.
“I’m not a medical professional, so I don’t want to misspeak, but I would tell you he’s getting better and I expect him to be out there shortly,” Falcons coach Kevin Stefanski said Wednesday morning ahead of the start of camp. “Sooner than later.”
With Tagovailoa not practicing and Penix still held out from 11-on-11 practice while recovering from a torn ACL suffered last November, the Falcons’ lone healthy quarterback was Jack Strand, an undrafted rookie from Division II Minnesota State-Moorhead.
They added veteran quarterback Cooper Rush before Wednesday’s practice to help spread out the reps.
Tagovailoa eventually joined his teammates on the practice field midway through Wednesday’s session. He stood with the quarterbacks and conversed while the rest of the signal callers executed the practice plan.