The quarterback battle in the Atlanta Falcons camp is not yet settled, but at least Michael Penix Jr. can feel confident about his knee.
Even though Penix is still waiting to be fully cleared from a torn ACL he suffered during the 2025 season, the former Washington Huskies star quarterback received a tremendous update on his knee from his doctor before the start of training camp. He even remembered exactly what he was told, verbatim.
“I went and saw the doctor before camp started and he’s like, ‘This is an amazing ACL.’ He’s like, ‘You should never have any more knee problems for the rest of your career.” That’s word for word what he told me,” Penix said on Wednesday, via Marc Raimondi of ESPN.
However, Penix is also still in the process of mentally preparing himself to return to action with his surgically repaired ACL.
“So, it’s like, OK, I hear that. But it’s like, all right, now I’m like, ‘Do I trust that?’ So, it’s just more so as just having that confidence in it and not worrying about it because injuries happen in football, but at the same time you don’t want it to happen again,” added Penix, who was selected eighth overall by Atlanta in the 2024 NFL Draft.
Tua Tagovailoa is the other chief contender for the Falcons’ QB1 job and he will also be starting for the team in Friday’s preseason game against the Denver Broncos at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Ga.
Penix seems to be behind Tagovailoa in the QB battle, with the Falcons taking a careful approach to his progress. But he should get his shot soon in live game action.
Through two seasons in the NFL, Penix has passed for 2,757 yards and 12 touchdowns against six interceptions on a 59.6% completion rate across 14 games (12 starts).
