The Atlanta Falcons have one of the strangest quarterback rooms in the NFL heading into the 2026 season.
They have the Week 1 starter Tua Tagovailoa, the still-rehabbing Michael Penix Jr,, veteran Cooper Rush. And then there is Jack Strand, the undrafted rookie from Division II Minnesota State-Moorhead.
After an impressive camp and preseason, he earned a spot on the 53 man roster, and now NFL.com has made a prediction that should probably scare Falcons fans more than excite them.
While going over 2026 bold predictions, NFL.com's Grant Gordon predicted that Strand will take over as Atlanta's starting quarterback at some point this season and ultimately make more starts than both Penix and Tagovailoa. The prediction calls for Strand to start more than half of the season.
"Atlanta will see Strand end the season with more starts than Michael Penix Jr. and Tua Tagovailoa," Gordon wrote. Strand will start more than half the campaign for Atlanta, showing some promise, but not enough to dissuade the Falcons from plucking a quarterback in the talent-rich 2027 NFL Draft."
Things would have to be really bad for the Falcons to turn to Jack Strand
That's a bold prediction that’s also a nightmare scenario for Atlanta. Now to be clear, this isn't an argument that Strand can't play. If anything, that's what makes the prediction so interesting.
With Tagovailoa dealing with an injury and Penix not yet cleared for full team work, Strand took the majority of the first-team reps on the opening day of camp. The Falcons quickly got a chance to see whether the moment was too big for him and it wasn't.
So no, Falcons fans shouldn't look at this prediction and think Strand starting would automatically mean he is terrible. It could actually mean the Falcons found something in the 22-year-old. The problem is everything that would have to happen before that point.
The Atlanta Falcons kept four QBs because it doesn't completely trust the health or consistency of the quarterbacks ahead of Jack Strand.
Cunningham acknowledged as much when explaining the decision, calling the four quarterback setup "a little bit of an insurance policy."
If Strand starts more than half the season, Michael Penix Jr. and Tua Tagovailoa probably didn't stay healthy and/or productive enough to hold onto the job. Rush, meanwhile, would have failed to become the reliable veteran option Atlanta added him to be. And that would raise some uncomfortable questions about the QB plan.
There is, of course, a world where this prediction turns out to be fantastic news for Atlanta. Maybe Strand proves to be a legitimate NFL quarterback. Maybe his preseason success carries over when the games actually matter. Maybe the Falcons accidentally discover their answer at the most important position on the roster.
But that's not really what Gordon's prediction is saying. It's saying Strand will be forced into the job cause the Falcons' other options don't work out and they'll be right in the 2027 QB hunt.
For Strand, that's an opportunity. For the Falcons, that would mean that everything that could've went wrong at the quarterback position did--seeing him at all would mean disaster struck.
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