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With guaranteed pay and the starting quarterback job his to lose, The Morning Shift analyzes Tua Tagovailoa's situation on the roster in light of his interview with The Midday Show. And what about for the Falcons? How much to they need Tua or Michael Penix Jr. to prove to be the long term answer?
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00:00The Falcons signed running back Brian Robinson to a one-year, $2.5 million deal.
00:04And Tua Tungvaloa spoke with the media yesterday.
00:08He got acquainted with the fine media folk here in Atlanta.
00:11But Andy and Randy got an exclusive conversation with him,
00:14and they did ask Tua about his mindset when it comes to competition.
00:17I don't think there's a change of mindset.
00:19I think at the end of the day, you're either a competitor or you're not.
00:22I think the biggest difference would be perspective on and the outlook of the game.
00:27Having kids, having a wife now, it does change, I think, who you are.
00:31And I think it's all good.
00:33I think it's all for the best.
00:34You know, some would call it growth.
00:35In terms of the aspect of the game, you either love to do this or you don't.
00:40And if you don't, you're going to get found.
00:41There's no two ways about it, you know, when it comes to the NFL.
00:45Sounds like a job in radio.
00:48If you don't love to do it, you're going to get found out.
00:51And I will say, you know, NFL, radio, very different worlds.
00:54But moving to a new location, getting a whole new team behind you, it is just such a refreshing
01:01feeling where you get to start again.
01:04It honestly brings you back to your social the other day where you were at Home Depot
01:08buying flowers and stuff.
01:09You're like, it's a new era.
01:10It is a new era.
01:12Why are flowers so expensive?
01:13Things are so different now.
01:14Yes.
01:15Things are so different now.
01:16And he's spot on.
01:19You know, he's at such a unique, he's in such a unique place where he's making a ton
01:24of money to go in and compete for a team that's not paying him, you know, and compete with
01:29a younger guy that it's, is it safe to say for Tua that this is not a, there's not really
01:38a lose.
01:39Like you can't really lose in this situation.
01:40I mean, I guess you can to the point where you might not get a big contract coming off
01:45of this one, but he's, he's in a good place.
01:48That's what we talked about earlier.
01:50This, he, that if he just comes in here and loses a job to Pennix and Pennix balls out,
01:58then he's probably going to be viewed as either a stopgap.
02:03Like, Hey, we need a quarterback to get us into our rookies ready or whatever, or which
02:09I, which may be a type of job that's kind of starting to go the way of the dodo, because
02:14I think teams don't just coaches don't feel like they have time anymore to do that.
02:20But I think he could be come to the point where he's viewed that as, is just a straight
02:24up backup quarterback, which is still fine because I have job pays like seven, eight
02:32million dollars, you know, um, that's where Justin Fields is now, you know, Justin Fields
02:38had three chances.
02:40I, I still don't a hundred percent believe the, that it was handled right in Pittsburgh
02:46with him.
02:47Um, I thought he kind of should have probably had, should have had a chance to fail more
02:53than he did there.
02:54Um, when, cause Russell Wilson essentially got healthy, he just came back and took the
02:59job and then that faltered.
03:00But in New York, he failed.
03:01He fought, he fell flat on his face in New York.
03:03He fell flat on his face in Chicago.
03:05Now he's in Kansas city.
03:06He's got probably the best backup job in the world.
03:09He's sitting in a room with Andy Reed and, and, and, and Patrick Mahomes.
03:13They're being to me now too.
03:15Yeah.
03:16So, I mean, those are, those are guys, $20 million tight end.
03:22That's crazy.
03:23And also a highly paid running back now too.
03:26Yeah, there you go.
03:26Um, so that's a great spot, right?
03:28That's a good spot to be in.
03:29And so I think it's, it's, it's, you're right.
03:31He can't lose.
03:32He's essentially a highly paid intern in a lot of ways.
03:36Cause he has a chance to win a job in, in, in, in work for the company for the next
03:41five,
03:41seven years.
03:42But he also has a chance to come in and serve his internship out, making his $1.6 million
03:49from this team and whatever the dolphins are paying him and then go to another organization
03:54and get paid more money to do the same.
03:59I have a, a couple of questions surrounding this for both of y'all.
04:03Is there any chance that both of these guys are on this roster in 2027?
04:09Any chance at all that both of them, Tua comes out, wins the job.
04:13Michael Penix is your backup all year.
04:14They signed Tua to an extension.
04:16Michael Penix stays here for his fourth year.
04:18Well, sure.
04:19In that scenario.
04:19Yes.
04:20Yeah.
04:21That's, that's, Ali, it's the only way that makes sense financially.
04:24You're smart with money.
04:25You used to, you know how these financial things go.
04:28Like that's the only thing that's smart money.
04:30You got a quarterback that's costing you three or $4 million.
04:32And then maybe Tua's new contract would be, I mean, I don't know.
04:37I'm not going to sit here and guess at what they would have to pay him because you never
04:41know what that agreement might be.
04:42Cause he still would be getting paid by the dolphins a little bit, but that's financially
04:46the most, uh, what's a, uh, uh, responsible way to spend your money.
04:52It would, what would that do?
04:55To Penix's mindset though.
04:57That's where I'm at.
04:58Because I feel like that, that damages that.
05:01Is it financially responsible if you take something that is, that you have equity in
05:06and you just let Michael Penix's contract run out without at least attempting to do something
05:11with him and the other direction.
05:13If you've identified that he's not your guy and Tua is your guy, I just think that it would
05:19have to be a, you would have to thread the needle in order to talk me into that being
05:22a possibility in 2027.
05:23The second part of that is the other direction.
05:25If neither one of these guys were to work out next year, is that an indictment on Kevin
05:29Stefanski's offense?
05:30Like if you're like, man, you got two guys with all the talent in the world, you couldn't
05:34make it work with either one of them.
05:36You need both of these guys.
05:37No, how could it be an indictment on Stefanski when one of the guys has 12 games under his
05:45belt, hasn't stayed healthy, and was up and down under a different system?
05:52And then the other guy felled under what some think is one of the greatest offensive minds
05:57in the game today.
06:00Are you, how would it not, like, how would it not be on Kevin Stefanski?
06:04I know.
06:04Why is it on, why is it on Stefanski that, uh, that a guy that failed somewhere else came
06:08here and failed and that Michael Penix has, it didn't get better at what point does a
06:13player take any?
06:16But at the same time, there are health concerns with both, and I think that would be the variable.
06:20That would be the thing.
06:21If both were to fail, that would be the reason.
06:23So that says nothing about Kevin Stefanski.
06:25I agree with that.
06:26I think if there's an injury.
06:27I'm confused on how you think a guy that's already failed in the NFL and how a guy that
06:32has proven not much at anything yet, if they don't work out this year, it's all the coach's
06:38fault.
06:38No, no, I didn't say that.
06:39I said, is it an indictment on his offense if you can't make either one of these guys work
06:43at the position, because we've talked all morning about two of us saying he's competing.
06:46What is the future of that position?
06:48If he does win the competition, where do you go from there?
06:50Do you feel like you don't have to draft your guy in 2027?
06:54You say, when does the player have to take any responsibility?
06:58I would ask the same question to your statement of when does the coach have to take any responsibility?
07:02If you've handpicked Tua and you said, all right, man, we're going to sign this guy
07:08to come in and run our offense.
07:10Well, I think it's obvious why you handpicked him.
07:13Because he was cheap.
07:15Yes.
07:15Because he's had moments, had a year, had a good year, had one good year, one really
07:22good year, and he had another average year or two, right?
07:28I mean, is that fair?
07:29Is that a fair assessment?
07:31I would say so, yeah.
07:32Here's a scenario, so I just want to make sure I'm in.
07:34So, that's fair.
07:36And then you get a guy who has played 12 games.
07:40You don't know what you – you essentially don't – it's not like you're going into
07:45this year saying, I got two bona fide starters, I'm going to let them fight to the death.
07:48It's going to work no matter what of them is going to work out.
07:50Like, you really – you're not bona fide at the position, and you're honestly hoping
07:58one of them, I think, works out.
07:59The biggest question mark this team has had since No. 2 walked out of the building as
08:03a player, and still to this day, is that job.
08:07You're 8-9 the last two seasons, only 8-9 because of the quarterback position.
08:13The only reason I even bring this conversation up is because I have made the stand on here,
08:17and I will continue to stand, that if I'm a head coach, there's no way that I'm drafting
08:23a quarterback in the top 10.
08:25Cannot talk me into it.
08:27Don't care.
08:28I'm essentially telling myself that I'm going to get fired if I am drafting a quarterback
08:33in the top 10, to me.
08:35That's just how I look at it.
08:36So, if I'm Kevin Savansky, I'm trying to make, for a lot of reasons, either one of these
08:42guys work.
08:43And I think that if you're telling me that, what was two, a third overall, and then you
08:49go to Michael Penix, who was whatever overall, top 10 pick, that you can't make either one
08:55of those guys work if they stay healthy, but then you're going to go draft another guy in
08:58the top 10 the following season, and all of a sudden, he's going to be the guy?
09:00Yeah, but I don't, that, they come with so many caveats.
09:06I think that's a flawed argument.
09:08That's the perfect way to put it, because I think if the offense doesn't work, I don't
09:12necessarily think it's on the quarterback position this year for the Falcons.
09:15I think it, you probably had an O-line injury, or you couldn't find the depth of receiver
09:19that you needed, things of that nature.
09:21But how many quarter, I mean, that's, I just feel like that's kind of a, that's a, that's
09:29still adapting players of the system.
09:30I think that's a good point with you with the offensive line.
09:32Maybe it's, maybe it's just they don't fit what you want to do.
09:34Maybe they're not, they're, they're not going to do what you want to do.
09:37Um, but you've got a guy who's already, where Tua was drafted has nothing to do with, with,
09:45with him as, with, with, with, with the Falcons or Kevin Stefanski.
09:49They didn't draft him third overall.
09:52Where Michael Penix was drafted has nothing to do with Matt Ryan, Ian Cunningham, and Kevin
09:58Stefanski.
09:59They didn't draft him eighth overall.
10:00I agree with you on that.
10:01They inherited him, and the other guy's in here because he is a guy who has starter experience
10:06and is cheap.
10:07They're not responsible.
10:09If there's guys are failures, it just means that it's, it, it was proven what everyone
10:15already thought of them.
10:16And you go draft your guy, finally you get to go draft your guy.
10:22Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
10:23If they both, are they're both failures?
10:25They've proven what everybody already thought of.
10:26So you think they're both failures?
10:28That's what everyone's told us.
10:29That's what everyone has told us.
10:31I'm not even going to go down this, I'm not going to go down the rabbit hole, but I don't
10:34know who you're talking about.
10:34Half the damn, half the media and fan base in this city has told you Penix is a failure.
10:40So, it just proved it.
10:41I don't necessarily believe that.
10:44Did you say that, Allie?
10:45You, you shouldn't have said that.
10:47I can't believe you said that.
10:48That sounds like me, doesn't it?
10:49Three people in this room is not half the fan base.
10:54Mike, you could do a, you know, there's people in this station that love to do Twitter polls.
10:59You could do a Twitter poll and I guarantee you that you would be around half the fan
11:04base would think Michael Penix is already a failure and he's only played 12 games.
11:09I've already, I get told daily when I defend the guy.
11:12I'm apparently a fanboy team first guy because I defend the quarterback.
11:20I don't think he's a failure yet.
11:22But people already believe that.
11:24But people already believe that.
11:26So, no, I don't believe it's the coach's fault in his first year here if a guy who's
11:31only played 12 games and is coming off an injury doesn't necessarily have an all-pro year.
11:36I think that the overall point of conversation and why I brought up these questions is I
11:41just, the scenarios with which this competition goes well, I just, I'm having a hard time
11:48seeing it.
11:48I really am.
11:49And I appreciate Bo's positive outlook on the signings we've made and some of the
11:53things we're trying to do in 2026.
11:54And I just, like there is such a like 5% area where I feel like this quarterback competition
12:00goes one way and that quarterback wins it and he's starting 17 games.
12:05Like it's just, it's hard for me to fathom.
12:07It really is.
12:08And I hope I'm wrong.
12:09I hope you're wrong too.
12:11I hate to even put this out there, but weigh in on this on Twitter.
12:14Give us your takes about their quarterbacks.
12:17Is Bo Wright, is everyone saying they're both going to fail at 929 Morning Shift?
12:20I really hate to do that after we just got such a great conversation with Tua, with Andy
12:26and Randy, but we're going to ask the question at 929 Morning Shift.
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