Kevin Stefanski’s hiring by the Atlanta Falcons could very well be the start of something great with this team. Atlanta has lots of solid players on both sides of the ball, but they just haven’t been as dangerous as they could be. With Stefanski now being on the sideline for the Falcons, it should bring some stability to the organization considering the fact that he was a two-time Coach of the Year with the Cleveland Browns with a mess at quarterback.
Atlanta does not have a mess at quarterback like the Browns have, but it isn’t phenomenal either. In the 2024 offseason, the Falcons signed Kirk Cousins to a huge 4-year $180 million deal to become QB1 of the team. Then the Falcons would draft his eventual replacement in Michael Penix Jr. just a month later. Since then, that has been the main storyline of this team.
Cousins is set up to be a free agent in March after a restructure of his contract, and Penix suffered a partially torn ACL that ended his season, allowing Cousins to finish Atlanta’s season as the starter.
The expectation is that Penix will have the chance to prove to this new regime that he can be the future of this team. However, he has an uphill battle with not just coming back from the knee injury, but also having to show Stefanski that even though he wasn’t his pick, he can get the job done.
Michael Penix has tons of pressure to impress Kevin Stefanski in 2026
Brad Gagnon from Bleacher Report used one sentence to create for each eliminated NFL team, and for the Falcons, Gagnon focused on if Penix doesn’t impress this regime, then the Falcons could be on the lookout for a quarterback after 2026.
"Kevin Stefanski makes a lot of sense for Atlanta's quest to get it right with Michael Penix Jr., but expect the new regime to move on if 2026 doesn't pan out for the third-year quarterback. "Brad Gagnon, Bleacher Report
With the new reset the Falcons are making above the roster, that puts pressure on really every player to succeed. However, the biggest pressure is with Penix because at the end of the day, he is the quarterback and he was not selected by this new incoming regime.
We see it happen all the time where a new regime comes into an organization and makes moves that involve letting current players go to bring in their preferred choices. If Penix doesn’t thrive in this third season in Atlanta, the Falcons could very well be in the quarterback market after the 2026 season.