The Atlanta Falcons are the only team in the NFL who has yet to name a Week 1 starting quarterback. As they always say, patience is a virtue, and Kevin Stefanski is taking his sweet time evaluating both Michael Penix Jr. and Tua Tagovailoa before deciding who will start against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
It appears as though that Stefanski is going to wait until the latest possible moment to name a starter, but that doesn't answer the burning question on the mind of every Falcons fan: what's the hold-up? And will Penix or Tua get the first opportunity to turn their career around to kick off the 2026 season?
While appearing on Monday's episode of the Pat McAfee Show, ESPN insider Adam Schefter provided some answers. He revealed why Atlanta has waited to long to name a starter, and he may have inadvertently revealed the direction this competition is likely going through his comments.
"They wanna take a look this week at Michael Penix and see how he responds," Schefter said. "They wanna see how he physically feels being out there for a full week."
It's obvious Michael Penix Jr. will start for the Atlanta Falcons Week 1
From where I'm sitting, it sounds like Schefter dropped a major hint: if Michael Penix Jr. is healthy, he's the guy for the Atlanta Falcons. But they still want to see him continue to ramp up and see how he handles his second week of 11-on-11s when the season opener is less than two weeks away now.
Penix's health has been the wild card in this quarterback competition all offseason long, and since he was cleared for full contact last week, thiings have shifted in his favor. Tua Tagovailoa was unable to pull away while he was limited, and the preseason finale exposed the biggest limitation in his game.
We're all smart enough to read between the lines: if the 26-year-old is physically able to start at Acrisure Stadium, he will. The Dirty Birds have much more invested in his future than Tua's and it's fairly obvious they have more to gain if he cements himself as their franchise QB--whereas the alternative is drafting someone in the 2027 NFL Draft. At this point, Tagovailoa isn't starting-caliber.
After all, the guy is a former top-10 pick and a Heisman runner-up. And we saw him moving around and warming up before the Dolphins game, he looks pretty good all things considered. Penix still has the upside and the arm talent, so in Stefanski's system that's more catered to his strengths with more play-action, a career renaissance is very much within the realm of possibility.
When he was hired, Kevin Stefanski made it clear that he wanted to see things through with Michael Penix Jr,--and now that he's getting healthier, it'll make it easier to do just that. So for all of the talks that it's wide open, the resolution is right under our noses--some people just won't admit it.
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