![\"Atlanta](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/atlanta-falcons-ota-offseason-workouts-flowery-branch-georgia-may-27-michael-2-e1781635512645.jpg\")
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Falcons’ quarterback Michael Penix Jr. revealed he has not been cleared to practice as he continues to recover from a knee injury<\/p>\n
The future for the Atlanta Falcons<\/a> is essentially up for grabs this summer, when Tua Tagovailoa and Michael Penix Jr. get set to battle for the starting quarterback position during training camp. That is, if Penix is healthy enough to compete.<\/p>\n Penix tore his ACL back in November and has been recovering ever since after undergoing surgery shortly afterward. He has yet to be fully cleared with training camp just days away.<\/p>\n When Sports Illustrated\u2019s Albert Breer<\/a> was asked what Penix\u2019s future might look like should he not be able to win the Falcons\u2019 starting job, he made it clear the former first-round pick may be on borrowed time in Atlanta.<\/p>\n More Falcons On Heavy: Falcons Get Stunning QB Plan if Tua Tagovailoa, Michael Penix Fail<\/a><\/p>\n Michael Penix\u2019s Falcons\u2019 Future Could Hinge on 2026 Season<\/p>\n Breer said it would first come down to whether the Falcons decide to pick up Penix\u2019s fifth-year option.<\/p>\n \u201cI think the first thing that would set the stage for Penix leaving Atlanta would be the Falcons declining his fifth-year option next spring,\u201d Breer replied. \u201cThat would be significant because it almost always leads to a team bailing on a first-round quarterback\u2014Daniel Jones is the only real example of a guy having his option declined, and then winding up with a long-term deal to stay, since the option system went in with the 2011 draft class (Jordan Love did a one-year extension in place of his option).\u201d<\/p>\n Penix was drafted No. 8 overall in the 2024 NFL<\/a> Draft and signed a four-year, $22.8 million rookie deal. He\u2019s set to make a base salary of $1.19 million in 2026, per Spotrac<\/a>.<\/p>\n His selection came as a complete surprise, as it was just weeks after the Falcons signed Kirk Cousins to a four-year, $180 million deal. Cousins was expected to be the team\u2019s gap quarterback, leading to Penix becoming the franchise guy. But after two inconsistent, injury-plagued seasons, Penix\u2019s future is looking bleak at best.<\/p>\n That\u2019s why the upcoming competition with Tagovailoa is so important for Penix\u2019s career.<\/p>\n \u201cPenix is competing for his future this summer. Since he\u2019s coming off a torn ACL, there\u2019s a scenario where he doesn\u2019t win the job in camp and comes back with a fury later in the season. But losing the competition in camp would certainly decrease the likelihood that he\u2019s on the team two years from now.\u201d<\/p>\n Tua Tagovailoa Enters Camp With Early Edge Over Michael Penix Jr.<\/p>\n The Falcons said back at OTAs that there was no quarterback competition as long as Penix wasn\u2019t cleared. That means the job would go to Tagovailoa by default.<\/p>\n \u201cPenix still has not been able to do 11-on-11 team sessions in practice, but he hopes to be 100% cleared in time for training camp,\u201d ESPN\u2019s Marc Raimondi<\/a> wrote. \u201cUntil he\u2019s healthy, though, the Falcons coaching staff has made it clear there really cannot be any competition. It feels like Tagovailoa is ahead at this point just because he\u2019s getting the reps. However, that does not mean Penix can\u2019t return and light things up in camp.\u201d<\/p>\n In his 53-man roster projection, Raimondi has Tagovailoa listed as QB1, Penix as QB2 and Trevor Siemian as QB3.<\/p>\n It\u2019s undoubtedly an uphill battle for Penix entering training camp, whether he\u2019s cleared or not. Tagovailoa has all the experience and is getting a fresh start after having a difficult last two years.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tShane Shoemaker<\/a> Shane Shoemaker is a sports journalist covering college football and the NFL for Heavy.com. His work has also appeared in The Sporting News, Athlon Sports, USA TODAY, and ClutchPoints, along with high school sports coverage for the Marion Tribune. More about Shane Shoemaker<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty Falcons’ quarterback Michael Penix Jr. revealed he has not been cleared to practice as he continues to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":784859,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[67],"tags":[399,398,396,397,99],"class_list":["post-784858","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ncaa-football","tag-football","tag-ncaa","tag-ncaa-football","tag-ncaafootball","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/784858","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=784858"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/784858\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/784859"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=784858"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=784858"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=784858"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}