With Tua Tagovailoa limited by back injury, Falcons sign Cooper Rush to bolster QB room

The Atlanta Falcons opened training camp Wednesday morning with undrafted free agent Jack Strand as the team’s only healthy quarterback after a morning full of discouraging news.

The team announced Wednesday that free-agent addition Tua Tagovailoa will be limited through at least the first week of training camp by a back injury, revealed former top-10 pick Michael Penix Jr. still has not been cleared for team drills after last year’s ACL tear and released third-string quarterback Trevor Siemian due to a non-football injury.

To bolster the quarterback room, the Falcons signed veteran Cooper Rush, who has started 14 games in Dallas and two in Baltimore in an eight-year NFL career.

“It’s the NFL, brother,” coach Kevin Stefanski said Wednesday. “You cannot predict what’s coming. … Not fazed.”

Tagovailoa, who came to Atlanta from Miami in the offseason, had something “flare up” and will return “sooner than later,” Stefanski said. Tagovailoa could be back by the end of this week, a team source who was granted anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about team injuries told The Athletic.

“It’s not long term,” Stefanski said. “He will be back shortly. He’ll be ready to roll.”

Penix Jr. tore his ACL last year in Week 11 but had hoped to be ready for full participation in time for training camp. He participated in seven-on-seven drills during the team’s spring practices and will continue to do that, Stefanski said.

“All along, we have put total trust into Mike and the medical team and the doctor performing his surgery,” Stefanski said. “I’m very, very comfortable with where we are and the plan that we have. Also, I know Mike, and he has the absolute right attitude, which is he can keep grinding every single day and get better every single day. He’s working very, very hard. … He’s hitting every single checkpoint.”