Falcons GM Ian Cunningham not hinting QB pecking order after signing Tua Tagovailoa: 'There's no starters right now'

Ian Cunningham is about a month and a half into his run as Atlanta Falcons general manager. He made something clear Friday when meeting with reporters.

We're not in the business of really handing out starting positions in February, and in March the same," the 40-year-old former Chicago Bears assistant GM said.

Cunningham made that statement after he was asked point-blank if new Falcons quarterback Tua Tagovailoa will be the backup, or if the former Miami Dolphins starter will have a chance to beat out incumbent Michael Penix Jr. for the QB1 job in Atlanta.

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For Tua, he knows he's coming in to compete," Cunningham said. Just like Michael knows that he's coming in to compete. And everybody, quite frankly, not just those two at the quarterback position, but everybody's coming in to compete."

Cunningham added: There's no starters right now, and we're excited to have Tua, but we're excited to have all the players that we were able to get this free-agent class."

The Falcons are keeping their cards close to their chest. That comes as no surprise, especially after new head coach Kevin Stefanski was similarly vague during his introductory news conference in late January.

There will be a competition in Atlanta this summer, and it will feature two lefties with concerning injury histories yet enough potential to build on.

The Dolphins released Tagovailoa earlier this week and, as a result, absorbed an NFL-record $99.2 million in dead money, according to ESPN's Adam Schefter. Meanwhile, the Falcons reportedly signed him to one-year minimum deal.

Tagovailoa has dealt with a slew of concussions in his six-year NFL career. He's considered the risks of continuing his football career on multiple occasions, as recently as the 2024 season, during which the 2020 fifth overall pick sustained another troubling head injury amid a "Thursday Night Football" defeat to the Buffalo Bills in Week 2 of the 2024 season,

He's kept playing, but his Dolphins tenure came to an end this past season when he was benched for the final three games of the 2025 campaign. At Tagovailoa's best, he's an accurate point guard who can distribute to playmakers with ease. The one-time Alabama national champion made the Pro Bowl in 2023, leading the NFL with 4,624 passing yards and tossing a career-high 29 touchdowns.

Penix has had his ups and downs as well, albeit in a much shorter pro career. After piloting Washington to the national title game in college, he was drafted No. 8 overall in 2024. Throughout most of his rookie season, Penix backed up Kirk Cousins. Hampered by an arm injury, Cousins was benched with three games to go. Penix started instead, and, although the Falcons went 1-2 and missed the playoffs, he showed enough promise to get his shot as the full-time starter in 2025.

Penix went 3-6 before suffering a partially torn ACL that required season-ending surgery last year. There were two games where he completed north of 75% of his passes and two others where he hit on 50% or fewer of his pass attempts. Now the 25-year-old Penix is working his way back from his fifth season-ending injury in the span of eight seasons between his college and NFL careers.

With Cousins becoming a free agent again, Penix and Tagovailoa are at the center of a quarterback showdown in Atlanta.

Cunningham said Friday that Penix was given a heads-up about the Tagovailoa signing. The first-year Falcons GM noted that he didn't want to blindside Penix. He's confident Penix will repsond well to the situation.

I feel like Mike's going to come in here and compete, just like he always does," Cunningham said. Everybody's going to come in here and compete. That's what our job is to do is to bring in players that fit what our coaches want to do schematically that fit."