Skip to playerSkip to main content
  • 1 day ago
NFL Network host Rich Eisen said emphatically that Tua Tagovailoa was signed to be the starter over Michael Penix Jr. The Midday Show's Any Bunker and Randy McMichael react to those comments, how they see the Falcons quarterback situation, and other news around the league.
Transcript
00:0049ers sent another wide receiver, Christian Kirk, this time.
00:04Deal worth up to $6 million.
00:05Obviously, Mike Evans earlier in the offseason, so adding some guys, veterans.
00:11Christian Kirk's all right when he's healthy.
00:13Yeah, I mean, when he's healthy, he's an effective player, man.
00:15But I think, you know, the thing what they're trying to do down there,
00:17they've got to get some bodies because they're going to lose Brent and I.
00:20Did Juwan Jennings go?
00:22Did he leave?
00:23I can't remember if he was out or not.
00:24Oh, no.
00:25He's still there?
00:26Okay.
00:26I like him.
00:27Okay, yeah.
00:28He plays well.
00:29Other than the fact that he's, from what other players around the league,
00:33describe him as a female dog.
00:35I've never met him, so I guess that's why I like him.
00:37Other players around the league describe him as a female dog.
00:40Yeah, let me take it.
00:41He does some grimy stuff.
00:42Yeah, man.
00:43But he's a semi-productive player.
00:44Yeah, but I think you're going to get Mike.
00:47Park Pearsall, you never know if he's going to be healthy or not.
00:50I mean, so, yeah, you've got to get some bodies in there.
00:53Deal with $6 million.
00:54That looks like they're going to put him somewhere in the slot area
00:56and allow him to do his work.
00:57But when he's healthy, Chris Kirk is productive.
01:01Yeah.
01:01So, there it is right there.
01:02There it is right there.
01:04Darius Slay is retiring after 13 years.
01:06Yeah, man.
01:07Good for him.
01:07Good for him.
01:08I know that he went over to Pittsburgh.
01:09This was never a good fit.
01:11Never a good fit.
01:11I mean, obviously, he was a great – he was a really good player with Detroit.
01:15Went over to Philly and really, you know, excelled.
01:19Got them a Super Bowl title and everything.
01:21And now it's just like, time to hang it up.
01:23Good for him.
01:23All right.
01:23Good for him.
01:24So, here's – let's hear from – these are all fine headlines.
01:27But let's get to – on the Rich Eisen show yesterday, we were talking about this.
01:31I don't know when.
01:32Was it yesterday?
01:33Was it Friday?
01:34I don't know.
01:35But we had a very similar conversation to this about Penix and Tua
01:39and what the off-season, into training camp and all that's going to look like.
01:44And why Tua has a real leg up.
01:47Bottom line is, if you're going to be competing between veterans
01:52and guys who have hardly done it before,
01:54and it really is going to be about what it looks like pre-snap, post-snap,
02:00in the meeting rooms and everything like that,
02:02it's going to be a big effort for the young kid to beat out a vet.
02:06Yeah.
02:07No doubt about it.
02:08I mean –
02:08Flat out.
02:09It's a flat-out statement.
02:11And, of course, we mentioned, I mean, Tua's played way more ball.
02:14Tua's led team to play off.
02:15Tua's led this league in passing and all these other things.
02:18So, he's a capable quarterback.
02:19I mean, I know you get the whole concussions and all those different things,
02:22but when Tua's protected and on, he is – he can put it where you –
02:26he can put it there.
02:27Yeah.
02:28He can put it there.
02:28It takes me back to – I think it was Friday we had the conversation of
02:32Kyler signed by Minnesota.
02:34So much of the reaction is, oh, terrible news for J.J. McCarthy.
02:37Kyler's going to be the guy.
02:38Right.
02:39And that just wasn't the reaction with the Tua Penix stuff.
02:43Right.
02:43But I think it's a similar thing.
02:45Like, the gap isn't the same between the guys,
02:47but just because of the situation that Penix is in with the injuries –
02:52With the injury.
02:53And the stuff that he struggles with, accuracy-wise,
02:57and the stuff that Tua's good at,
02:59and the fact that he's going to be healthy coming into the offseason,
03:02it's just – like, it's going to be really hard for Penix to beat him out.
03:06Yes.
03:07But, I mean –
03:07Like, I know it's not the same thing because J.J. and Penix and all that,
03:11but, like, it's the same thing for me in terms of,
03:14well, that guy's probably going to be the starter.
03:15But I think that when people made that assumption with the Kyler Murray, J.J.,
03:20we saw how bad – and it was more publicized how bad J.J. was
03:24than it was about the Michael Penix thing.
03:26All they said about Michael Penix was the injury part about it.
03:28Sure.
03:28You know, and that's a big deal with it also because, again,
03:31you're rehabbing while they're out there doing things.
03:34Now, you'll be able to do some things,
03:35but you won't be able to do all the things that, you know,
03:38Tua gets to do with the first team offense and things like that.
03:41And I do believe that it's going to be a competition,
03:43but I think that Tua – and that's another thing I said.
03:46I said, how do we – I said, are we 100% sure Tua's not going to win
03:49in this quarterback conference?
03:50I said, no, I'm not 100% sure.
03:52I would be 100% sure if they brought another quarterback in,
03:55but because they brought Tua in, they brought Tua in, in my opinion,
03:58and I'm getting there more and more day by day.
04:00They brought Tua in to be the starter.
04:02Yeah.
04:03Yeah.
04:03I think so, too.
04:04I mean, and I'm getting – day by day,
04:06and it's becoming more and more clear to me.
04:09Me, too.
04:09That they brought Tua in here to be the starting quarterback this year.
04:12Yeah, because you could have brought in other veteran quarters.
04:15Now, it's the cheapest option.
04:17Yes.
04:17But the only way – again, we've said this before.
04:20The only way Tua was coming here is if you at least told him –
04:23I'm not going to lie to him.
04:24Yeah.
04:24At least told him he's coming here with an opportunity to compete
04:26to be the starter.
04:27Yeah.
04:28Tua wants to be a starter in the NFL.
04:29Yes.
04:29Tua does not want to back up Michael.
04:31He doesn't view himself as a backup.
04:32Tua does not want to, quote, unquote, push Michael.
04:34He doesn't want to back up anybody.
04:36No.
04:36He doesn't want to mentor anybody.
04:37I'm sure he'll be a good teammate, but that's a difference.
04:39Yes.
04:39He's not in that part of his career.
04:41He's three years older than Michael Penix.
04:43Yes.
04:43They're about the same age.
04:45Yes.
04:45Like, 28 and 25, Michael will be 26 by the time the season starts.
04:48Right.
04:48Like, they're pretty similar in terms of their ages.
04:51And Tua's trying to get that bread.
04:52Yeah, man.
04:53He's trying to get back to that money.
04:54Like, I don't know.
04:55And maybe it was just me, like, wanting Penix to be the starter.
04:59And I still do want Penix to be the starter.
05:01In order for him to do it, he's going to have to beat out Tua in the lead up to
05:05the season.
05:05I just think it's going to be really hard to do that, given what training camp is.
05:09They're not going to hit him.
05:13There's no—Tua's going to stand in the pocket and deliver the ball accurately.
05:16He's going to look brilliant pre-snap, because he is.
05:19He's going to put the ball where it's supposed to go.
05:20Because he does.
05:21Like, everyone's going to love how it looks, and his teammates are going to rave about him,
05:24and he's a good teammate.
05:25That's the first thing I said out of my mouth.
05:27And that's all great.
05:29But if you're trying to compete against that, how do you beat it?
05:31You've got to look better.
05:33Michael can't look as good as Tua.
05:35Michael's got to look better than Tua.
05:37Or Tua's got to fall off in what he does.
05:39And still, at one point in his career, Tua was a high-level starter.
05:46Tua was one of the best quarterbacks in ball.
05:49When you look at the—just look at the numbers and watch him throw the football.
05:53And I don't even—I'm not sitting here trying to say that, like, Tua's going to be amazing week one.
05:58I'm not going to say that at all.
05:59I'm just saying between now and week one, I think Tua has the skill set and the health advantage over
06:04Pennix right now
06:05to look better leading into it.
06:08I agree.
06:09I just—
06:09I agree.
06:10I agree.
06:10If preseason was different and—I don't know.
06:14If the lead-up to it was different, kind of how maybe it used to be, maybe.
06:17But the way that training camp goes now—and they're not going to play in preseason.
06:22Why would they?
06:23I haven't ever played in preseason.
06:23Maybe they will.
06:24Maybe.
06:24If it's like a real competition.
06:25But I don't know.
06:26Who knows?
06:26We'll see.
06:27We don't know how they are going to handle that.
06:28This regime is brand new.
06:31It's just that's—he's very difficult to beat in a competition.
06:34Yeah, but no, but I've just been—I mean, we've been mentioning this.
06:37I'm like, like, Tua—okay, you're coming in here to compete with Michael.
06:42But it's more Michael's trying to compete with you because I think Tua's not coming here unless you—
06:47I don't want to say gave him assurances, but gave him a great assurance that it's his job to lose.
06:52Well, at the very least, if I'm Michael Pennix, I'm like, oh, this guy had options.
06:57Yes.
06:58Anybody would have signed Tua for a million and a half bucks?
07:00Yep.
07:01He came here because he thought this was the right for the pick and job.
07:04Exactly.
07:05Like, he came here because he thought, I'm beatable.
07:08That my job is takeable.
07:10Like, and, you know, you can take it like that if you want, but that's what he did.
07:14But that's what it is.
07:15Tua picked the Falcons because he thought he could win this job.
07:18No doubt about it.
07:20There's no doubt that he took this job because of that.
07:23Now, you could also say in another sense what other jobs was there for him to get.
07:28Yeah, that's true.
07:29I mean, you could always say that part about it, but no, Tua came here—
07:31I mean, he could have gone to the Jets.
07:34Tua came here to be the starting quarterback.
07:36He could have tried to talk the Vikings into it, I guess.
07:38And then looked at it from a standpoint is, just like Daniel Jones, who went to—
07:42Just like when Daniel Jones went to Indianapolis, he knew that he was going to beat out him.
07:46Oh, yeah.
07:47He knew.
07:47No, I could beat that guy.
07:48Yeah, I could beat this guy.
07:48Yeah, I've seen him play.
07:50I'm not more athletic than him, but I've seen him play.
07:51Yeah, he has every—like, Michael has way more tools than Tua as far as arm strength
07:58and all those different things, but he can't put it like Tua does.
08:01Now, he can put it as a place where Tua can't put it.
08:02Oh, definitely.
08:03Yeah, you know what I mean?
08:03Like, I'm not knocking nine because nine, I think nine has the goods.
08:08I do, too.
08:09I think nine got the goods.
08:10I do, too.
08:10I just think he's going to be competing against a guy in a style of competition that I don't
08:17know how many people could beat Tua in a competition like that.
08:19But the thing about it is, Mike wanted his job, right?
08:21Yeah, so you better beat him.
08:22So you better beat him.
08:22Yeah, and that's the other thing, too.
08:24Like, I like that.
08:25I think Michael's capable.
08:27I do, too.
08:27Yeah.
08:28But if you can't, then, you know, then Tua should start anyway, then, if Michael can't
08:33beat him in a competition.
08:34Yeah.
08:35You've got to be able to beat him in a competition to—yeah, I don't know.
08:38Think more about it.
08:39We've got plenty of time.
08:40Billy Horschel will join us next from the Atlanta Drive.
08:43They've got a playoff matchup tonight against the L.A. Golf Club.
08:46Don't go anywhere.
08:47Sports Radio 92.9 The Game.
Comments

Recommended