Tua Tagovailoa Signing With Atlanta Falcons Proves Kevin Stefanski Can’t Help Himself

It took Kevin Stefanski less than a month on his new job to create a quarterback competition.

On Monday, the Miami Dolphins released their franchise quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, eating an unprecedented amount of dead cap money. This allowed the Dolphins to sign free agent quarterback Malik Willis, while allowing Tagovailoa to get a fresh start on a cheap deal.

The Falcons quickly swooped in, adding Tagovailoa to their quarterback mix with Michael Penix Jr.

Of course, the internet was quick to point out that this is a very injury prone, left-handed quarterback room. Stefanski certainly has a type. In his last stop with the Browns, Cleveland overdrafted Oregon quarterback Dillon Gabriel in the third-round, leading to a wildly underwhelming rookie season.

But prior to that, Stefanski gave up on Baker Mayfield, who many had believed would become the long-awaited franchise quarterback in Cleveland. Is Stefanski getting ready to do that with Penix already?

There’s no debating that the best ability is availability – and Penix has been anything but.

In his first two seasons in the NFL, Penix has started just 12 games. But this is a player that the Falcons invested the No. 8 overall selection in the 2024 NFL Draft into. Is Stefanski really quitting on him this early into his Falcons tenure?

It’s eerily similar to what happened in Cleveland. Stefanski and Mayfield had a career best season resulting in the NFL Playoffs and a big victory against the Pittsburgh Steelers in the 2020 postseason. It felt like the start of something special. But Mayfield hurt himself in 2021 and his production seriously dipped. It quickly became obvious that Stefanski had little desire to coach Mayfield any longer, as the team aggressively pursued Deshaun Watson.

Penix has thrown 12 touchdowns to six interceptions. It’s an extremely small sample size for a player whose future already feels up in the air after the team’s addition of Tagovailoa.

Stefanski has one of the least adaptable offenses in the NFL. At least, that was the case during his six seasons in Cleveland. It’s predicated on rhythm and timing. Unfortunately for Penix, he was a player that quickly rose up draft boards because of his ability to create plays out of structure. During his time at Washington, Penix proved to be a dual-threat left-handed option, which made him a difficult player to defend.

Maybe Tagovailoa does some more things that Stefanski wants to accomplish offensively. But the Falcons need to be careful with this. Giving up on Penix this early for a limited player like Tagovailoa could leave Atlanta in quarterback purgatory.