Saying it's been the optimal summer for Michael Penix Jr. would be a bold-faced lie because it's anything but. His longer-than-expected recovery time has placed him out of the running to be the Atlanta Falcons' Week 1 starting quarterback but things are finally starting to look up for Penix.
Although the third-year quarterback has only been participating in individual drills and 7-on-7s, he built on one of his worst practices of the summer with a few of his best. During Saturday's session, he went 4-for-8, but three of his incompletions were dropped, but Monday was the real major step.
During Monday's session of 7-on-7s, Penix had his best performance of the summer to date. He completed six of his eight pass attempts but would have been perfect on the day if not for two drops. He also offered some of the best throws of training camp with some hard-to-ignore highlight plays.
Michael Penix Jr. has looked much better in recent Falcons' practices
One of his best plays didn't come in 7-on-7. The 26-year-old threw a beautiful touchdown to third-round rookie Zachariah Branch in a 1-on-1 against Darnay Holmes where he placed the ball exactly where only Branch could get it. I guess the downfield passing game is still his bread and butter.
And as weird as it sounds, it wasn't even his best play of the day. Penix had another deep ball with elite ball placement to finish practice where he went deep down the left sideline to Antwane "Juice" Wells Jr. despite some tight coverage from Clark Phillips III. The ball went right over Phillips' fingertips and the throw was that good that it was complete--and it's proof of the potential he still has.
Even though the Dirty Birds haven't got get to see the lefty do much else, him setting off fireworks in practice has offered a silver lining amid his limitations. His arm talent is still sensational, and the reason that Falcons fans still have a reason the former first-round pick can turn things around.
While drops are making the surface-level stats not look as desirable as they normally would, it shouldn't take away from what he's accomplished. The Washington product was a top-10 pick two years ago, and the Falcons should want to see him succeed-- so every step forward in practice is a step towards reviving his future in Atlanta.
Michael Penix Jr. has started to be one of the stars of Falcons training camp, so while the franchise may still be staring down the barrel of a draft bust label, he's starting to make it clear that not all hope is lost quite yet--even with Tua Tagovailoa in line to start Week 1.
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