Matt Ryan comments on a potential Falcons quarterback competition

When the Falcons handed Kirk Cousins a $180 million contract and then spent the 8th overall pick on Michael Penix Jr. just a few weeks later, they essentially invited a quarterback controversy to Atlanta — and that’s exactly what they’ve gotten.

Last season, Cousins was named the unquestioned starter heading into the year, and for about nine weeks, everything was going according to plan. The Falcons were 6-3, comfortably in first place in the NFC South, and looked poised to make the playoffs for the first time since 2017.

Then came the Week 10 matchup against the Saints. Not only did Atlanta lose to its division rival, but Cousins suffered an injury that clearly impacted his play. He tried to gut it out, but he looked like a shell of himself, and the Falcons proceeded to drop their next three games.

The calls for rookie Michael Penix Jr. became deafening, and the Falcons eventually caved, naming him the starter for the final three weeks of the season.

Penix showed enough flashes over that stretch to earn the full-time starting job heading into 2025. But if the organization thought that would put an end to the quarterback controversy while Cousins was still on the roster, they were only fooling themselves.

After a pair of lackluster performances in Weeks 2 and 3, the questions are already surfacing: Is there a quarterback competition in Atlanta?

Raheem Morris shot that idea down after the Falcons’ embarrassing 30-0 loss to the Panthers, but he also cracked the door ever so slightly, suggesting that it could be a possibility down the line — something that never should have come out of his mouth.