How the Atlanta Falcons Plan to Develop Michael Penix

FLOWERY BRANCH – The Atlanta Falcons’ pending quarterback battle will be one of the NFL’s most prominent offseason storylines over the next several months. Both Tua Tagovailoa and Michael Penix Jr. will enter this competition with baggage, but equally tantalizing potential worth exploring. 

It should make for an extremely compelling summer. 

Quarterbacks coach Alex Van Pelt will be counted on as a key voice in the middle of that room, and Kevin Stefanski will trust his long-time assistant to get the most out of both players. We are still just a handful of weeks into the Falcons’ post-draft offseason window, but there has already been plenty of speculation that the new position coach has laid a new foundation for Penix. 

The third-year quarterback was asked about whether the staff had tinkered with his throwing motion on Tuesday, but Penix quickly shot it down. From what we could gather from the team’s social media clips, his delivery did look a bit different, but that could have as much to do with his not wearing pads as with anything else.

Kevin Stefanski concurred with his quarterback, highlighting how the staff’s job is to refine rather than reinvent. 

“We coach so much on the footwork, because everything comes ground up when you’re talking about technique,” he said. “A lot of players, how they throw the ball anatomically is how they’ve always thrown it, so you don’t want to get too into the weeds of changing releases and those types of things.”

After they reach this level, much of what they strive for is finding efficiency. The Falcons’ head coach compared what they do to a golf swing, where a player can’t put too much in their head at any one time.

“You can’t have too many swing thoughts,” he said, “because now you’re not really focused on anything.” 

Anyone who has picked up a golf club can relate to that, but this is not to say that the staff is not doing anything to help their young quarterback. Refining his efficiency will be the primary challenge for this staff. While the sample size is still pretty small, Penix is below 60% in completion percentage for his career. Tagovailoa, his competition this summer, is almost nine percentage points higher in that regard. 

Rather than wholesale changes to his motion, Stefanski referred to the “quarter-turn adjustments” they can make to his technique, which help him transfer weight and finish his throws.

Offensive coordinator Tommy Rees said Penix is “taking [these changes] to heart and doing a nice job,” whether that is in reference to the under-center work, emphasis on fundamentals, or the change in scheme. 

​​“He’s done a really nice job,” he said. “His buy-in has been tremendous. He’s pushing himself. He’s pushing his teammates.

“He's a natural thrower if we're talking about his passing mechanics and those types of things,” Rees explained. “I mean, you've seen it for Mike's whole career. He's got tremendous arm talent. It's easy for him to throw the football, and that's a great starting point for any quarterback.”

Penix is also doing all of those while recovering from a torn ACL, from which he is still only six months removed. Despite the ongoing recovery, the quarterback said he feels good and is on track to start for the Falcons in Week 1 in Pittsburgh, should he win the job.

He will have every opportunity to get that opportunity. His arm talent alone has left this staff impressed, and his continued development has set him up to finish the uphill climb he will undertake this summer.

“I feel great,” Penix said. “I feel really good right now. I just say as long as nobody falls into my leg right now. But I feel great. I feel like I’m right where I need to be. And I’m going to keep taking strides to continue to get better each and every day.”