Falcons' Michael Penix Jr. has not shown enough to keep QB job in 2026

The Atlanta Falcons have placed their 2024 first-round pick, Michael Penix Jr., on injured reserve. The move ends the season for Penix, who, up until his injury, was playing mediocre football. The former eighth overall selection was the predominant player under center for the 3-7 Falcons.

At one point, the Falcons looked like a competitive team with Penix under center, but the longer his season went on, the more obvious it became that he was playing to not lose games, instead of to win them. He was passive and didn't push the ball as much as other quarterbacks, which saw winnable games fall out of their reach. A lot of that has to do with Penix's lackluster play.

In his second year as a pro, Penix finished with 1,982 yards. While it's fair to point out he missed a game, other quarterbacks who only had nine starts at this point in the season, Mac Jones and Joe Flacco, had 2,151 and 2,268 yards, respectively, across the same number of games. Plus, he's just behind guys who many don't consider franchise players right now.

If he were a franchise guy, he'd have better performances. For instance, Penix finished the season with just nine touchdowns through the air. That's a low number for a franchise player. Jaxson Dart, another presumed "franchise" guy, has 10 touchdowns in the same number of games with fewer attempts, and on a team that's besieged by injuries. Coupled with the fact that Dart has seven rushing touchdowns on top of his passing TDs, six more rushing TDs than Penix.

Not to mention Dart's head coach got fired.

So if a rookie is outperforming Penix, questions should be brought up as to why? Dart is just a rookie in an untenable situation, with no real star talent around him at the moment due to injuries. Penix has Drake London, Bijan Robinson and Kyle Pitts at his disposal. All three are supposedly top-end talent, and yet the Falcons are one of the worst-performing teams in the league. 

There are instances where struggles can be ignored to a degree. For instance, with rookie Cam Ward. He's playing on a Tennessee Titans team devoid of any talent and behind arguably the worst offensive line in the game. He's been sacked a season-worst 41 times.

Penix doesn't have that protection. He's only the 32nd most sacked quarterback in the league with 13, so he can't even blame his offensive line for failing him. 

Most of what we've seen so far from Penix is a quarterback who has struggled to move the ball, score points and win games. Top-10 pick or not, Penix has failed to establish himself as the team's future. Yes, this is only his second year in the league, but it's fair to say little to no progress has been made from his rookie season to now. 

While it may be an issue with coaching and failing to set Penix up right, it's clear that if the Falcons have the opportunity to upgrade the position, they absolutely should take it.