Michael Penix is ready to take flight, and he has the most experienced backup in the NFL behind him.
This is the Michael Penix show now. It came sooner than any of us anticipated, and it comes with Kirk Cousins still on the roster, which virtually none of us would have expected a year ago. It is here just the same.
The Atlanta Falcons have largely been blessed with quality quarterback play over the years, from the long Steve Bartkowski era to game stretches from Jeff George, Bobby Hebert, and Chris Chandler to the electrifying Michael Vick era to the sustained greatness of Matt Ryan. The in-between years are lean, whether they involve Tony Graziani or Byron Leftwich or Desmond Ridder, but the Falcons seem to have their franchise guy once again.
The 2025 season is about proving it, and the Falcons for all their hopeful improvements will go as far as Penix can take them. Let’s talk quarterback.
Starter
Michael Penix Jr.
No player on this roster is more important than Penix. We need to see leaps, bouncebacks, and other improvements from dozens of players in 2025 to really make these Falcons take flight, but Penix’s fortunes will determine how good this team is.
And the good news is that he looks pretty good. The accuracy hiccups and decision-making needed a little work after his three game starting stint, sure, but Penix has an absolutely lethal arm that allows him to touch every part of the field, the ruggedness to shake off sacks and stand tall in a collapsing pocket, and enough playmaking juice to punish defenders who underestimate him. If he continues to grow—and continues to flash those strengths—Penix has the chance to be a really good quarterback and helm an offense loaded with playmakers to the playoffs and perhaps beyond.
We’ve only seen a small sample size, which is where some doubt and anxiety comes from, but I’ve been confident the player is as advertised since the Falcons drafted him. He just needs to stay healthy and show the world what a full season and a little more experience means for hapless defenses.
Backup
Kirk Cousins
If you take away the endless saga of Cousins getting the Falcons fined, downplaying or outright hiding injuries (your take may vary), and completely falling apart last year, he’s an extremely experienced quarterback who is still a good player when healthy. There are questions about whether he’ll ever go back to being the caliber of player he was before that Achilles tear that cost him much of the 2023 season and clearly impacted him last year, but Cousins is easily the best backup quarterback in football on paper.
If he sticks on this roster and is fully recovered from all the ailments that made the 2024 season so frustrating, Cousins is about the best insurance for Penix you could possibly ask for, albeit at a premium price. That’s true even if he’s 75% of the Cousins of yesteryear, really, and it’s true even though there’s virtually zero chance he’ll be on this roster in 2026 and beyond. This saga has not yet closed out, but at the moment, Cousins is here and locked in on the depth chart, and that gives me peace of mind when I’m not dwelling on the past.
Reserves and roster hopefuls
Emory Jones, Easton Stick
Jones offers a solid arm and the ability to make plays on the run both through the air and on the ground, but his college career was defined by inconsistency. There’s no one eye-popping standout piece to his game, but lesser quarterbacks with less starting experience in college have latched on as reserves in the pros, and there’s enough talent here to make Jones interesting as at least a practice squad stash for Atlanta.
He’ll have to get by Stick for third quarterback duties unless Cousins is traded, in which case both players might make the roster. Stick did surprisingly solid work as a fill-in for Justin Herbert when the Chargers quarterback was hurt and makes up for limited arm strength with quality accuracy and quality athleticism that allows him to move around effectively in the pocket. I think Stick’s starting experience in the NFL gives him a leg up on Jones, but both quarterbacks will be worth watching this summer as the Falcons look for a potential long-term second fiddle for Penix.