Falcons training camp 2026: Everything you need to know from Day 12

FLOWERY BRANCH, GEORGIA - MAY 27: Tua Tagovailoa #1 of the Atlanta Falcons runs through drills during OTA's at IBM Performance Field on May 27, 2026 in Flowery Branch, Georgia. (Photo by Todd Kirkland/Getty Images) | Getty Images

Hello Falcoholics! My meeting schedule wasn’t conducive to me making it up to Flowery Branch today, and I need to get ahead on some work things so I can get up to Indianapolis next week for the team’s joint practices with the Colts. Kevin Stefanski has said the starters will get plenty of action over those two days, so I’m eager to see how it goes.

Before practice, I told the guys at The Falcoholic that a) I expected today’s practice to be short and sweet, and b) I expected Stefanski to announce that Tua would start against the Broncos on Friday and that starters will play about a series, and that’s exactly what happened on Wednesday. Here’s everything you need to know:

Head coach Kevin Stefanski named Tua Tagovailoa the starter for this week’s preseason matchup against the Broncos ( Marc Raimondi, ESPN ). He said they are not ready to name a starter for Week 1 yet, which isn’t surprising.

Stefanski also said that the starters will play a series/10 or so plays on Friday. ( Tori McElheney, AtlantaFalcons.com )

Encouraging stuff on Michael Penix Jr.’s knee from Daniel Flick of the AJC.

Michael Penix Jr.’s doctor told him, “This is an amazing ACL. You should never have any more knee problems for the rest of your career.” pic.twitter.com/XBa6FMCaHL

— Daniel Flick (@ByDanielFlick) August 12, 2026

Also from Flick , Stefanski said Aveion Terrell, Bralen Trice, and Da’Shawn Hand are rehabbing their respective injuries, none of which are expected to be long-term issues.

Cooper Rush will be Atlanta’s second-team QB on Friday night against the Broncos, and Jack Strand will finish the game for Atlanta this week, per Josh Kendall of the Athletic . Kendall also said that Jessie Bates is improving, though probably wouldn’t practice fully on Wednesday, and that Jawaan Taylor would be doing “football activities.”

Joe Patrick from 92.9 the Game got a shot of those football activities for Jawaan Taylor:

Jawaan Taylor active at Falcons practice today. pic.twitter.com/hHlBB3LhGg

— Joe Patrick (@JoePatrick) August 12, 2026

Also, unsurprisingly, we can expect a vanilla game plan on Friday. Stefanski said he doesn’t want to do anything too exotic, via NBC Atlanta’s Maria Martin .

I truly cannot believe I missed this:

Pacman Jones is at Falcons Training Camp and he’s chirping at the refs

— Maria Martin (@Ria_Martin) August 12, 2026

There’s been speculation that Jessie Bates’ absence from practice has been a contract “hold-in,” and when asked about that today by WSB TV’s Alison Mastrangelo , Kevin Stefanski shut that right down. It’s not a hold-in.

The fact that Stefanski didn’t want to name the Week 1 starter may bode well for Penix, who is coming along in his recovery. Via Raimondi:

Stefanski: I'm very, very confident in where we are with Penix. #Falcons

— Marc Raimondi (@marcraimondi) August 12, 2026

Tomorrow is a walkthrough with no media availability, and Friday night is obviously the first preseason game. Monday will be the last early morning practice, and then Wednesday and Thursday will be the joint practices in Indianapolis.

What are your expectations for Friday’s game? What are you hoping to see from the starters? Who do you think will be the starting QB come Week 1? Let’s talk about it in the comments.

Indexed and credited by AIPROPX. Originating outlet: Yahoo Sports. Open at source →