Tua Tagovailoa's 'God-Given' Accuracy Praised by Falcons' Stefanski amid QB1 Battle with Penix

Atlanta Hawks head coach Kevin Stefanski said Wednesday he feels quarterback Tua Tagovailoa has an "innate, God-given ability" to accurately throw a football.

"Skill set is what you see from his Miami days to now, very accurate, but fits in every well," Stefanski said about Tagovailoa during a Wednesday press conference.

When asked to expand on his accuracy comment, Stefanski answered, "It's the most important trait at the position, as we've always talked about. Some guys get better at it with tweaks to how they throw the ball, tweaks to their lower body, those types of things. But there is an innate ability... to be able to let the ball go, and it's going where they want it to go."

Stefanski concluded, "I think Tua, just in his career, as you've seen, has that innate, God-given ability."

Tagovailoa led the NFL with a 72.9 pass completion percentage in 2024. That number dropped to 67.7 percent as Tagovailoa threw a career-high 15 interceptions in 2025 before the Miami Dolphins took on a historic dead cap charge to release him.

He then signed with the Falcons on a one-year minimum deal, setting him on track to compete for the QB1 role against Michael Penix Jr.

Tagovailoa said in March he has "just got to play better football" in order to win the starting job in Atlanta.

Both Tagovailoa and Penix, who is looking to make his comeback after undergoing season-ending left knee surgery in November, were on the field Wednesday during OTA workouts.

Stefanski also said Wednesday that Penix has rejoined individual and 7-on-7 work, but yet been cleared for 11-on-11 team drills.

"He's not 100 percent, but he's exactly where he needs to be and I'm very impressed with how he's working," Stefanski said about Penix.

Tagovailoa is likely to continue taking reps with the Dolphins' first-team offense while Penix is recovering, giving him an opportunity to make a positive early impression as the QB1 race continues this offseason.