Tua Tagovailoa opens up about Dolphins exit, trying to resurrect career with Falcons

Before the Atlanta Falcons gave quarterback Tua Tagovailoa a chance to resurrect his career, he was unceremoniously released by the Miami Dolphins this past March. 

During a Tuesday appearance on SiriusXM NFL Radio, Tagovailoa opened up about being discarded by the team that made the former Alabama product the fifth overall pick of the 2020 draft.

Tua Tagovailoa: Dolphins exit was "hard"

"I would say the real aspect of it is, one, it’s hard," Tagovailoa acknowledged, per Eduardo Razo of Heavy. "There’s no other way to work around that. You can try to trick yourself into thinking it’s not as hard as what you’re thinking, but it’s hard to go through something like that. One thing that I ended up taking from [former Alabama coach Nick Saban] that stuck with me as I was going through that process, being benched last year, not being able to finish out the season with the guys, and then obviously being released by the Dolphins and then being a free agent was, things don’t happen to you; they happen for you. And that kind of stuck with me."

Tagovailoa dealt with setbacks related to concussions and other injuries throughout his Dolphins tenure. He also played well enough at times to receive a four-year, $212.4M contract from the club in the summer of 2024. 

Most recently, Tagovailoa was benched in favor of then-rookie Quinn Ewers due to poor play in December 2025. In total, Tagovailoa lost the only playoff start he made with the Dolphins.

Tua Tagovailoa on career journey: "It’s not over"

Tagovailoa's unimpressive performance in the Falcons' preseason opener against the Denver Broncos on Aug. 14 left many believing that he is "washed" and won't find much success while playing under first-year Atlanta head coach Kevin Stefanski. That said, Tagovailoa seems to be on track to serve as the Falcons' Week 1 starter because 2024 first-round draft pick Michael Penix Jr. has not yet been cleared for 11-on-11 practice work as Penix continues to recover from the surgery he needed last fall to repair a partially torn ACL. 

"I don’t know what happened, what had happened, what that was going to be for me throughout this," Tagovailoa added about his career. "But I think the thing is, it’s not over. The journey’s not over. It happened for you. There’s something good that has to come out of this. Whether it’s playing well, whether it’s something with a teammate, regardless of what it is, something good has to come out of it. And I think throughout that, you gotta have perspective, especially in this league. You gotta have perspective. If you don’t have perspective, I think it makes it tough to where you find your identity in only football." 

Barring a surprising development, Tagovailoa should start the Falcons' regular-season opener at the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sept. 13. However, Stefanski could quickly turn to Penix if Tagovailoa looks like the worst football-related version of himself at Acrisure Stadium.