The Atlanta Falcons have never appreciated Matt Ryan more; the franchise legend was his team's opening-day starter for 14 consecutive seasons.
Unfortunately, that is long gone. Since Ryan's final season as the starter, the Falcons have started six different quarterbacks in six straight season openers after the announcement that Tua Tagovailoa will start Sunday in Pittsburgh.
- 2021: Matt Ryan
- 2022: Marcus Mariota
- 2023: Desmond Ridder
- 2024: Kirk Cousins
- 2025: Michael Penix Jr.
- 2026: Tua Tagovailoa
With the Falcons' opponent starting Aaron Rodgers on Sunday, this is now the longest active streak in the NFL. That is the last thing you want to see if you are an NFL franchise -- it is a straight shot to missing the postseason.
The Falcons are in the worst place an NFL franchise can be: quarterback purgatory: and counting on Tua Tagovailoa to save them is a tall task.
Falcons have to wait possibly a couple years to break their ugly QB streak
The only thing worse than seeing this streak? Knowing it will almost undoubtedly extend to seven a year from now.
It is hard to imagine Tua Tagovailoa doing enough this season for the Falcons to extend him and name him the starting quarterback next season. In fact, it won't be long until he finds himself on the bench.
Even if Michael Penix Jr. comes out slinging the football and establishes himself as QB1 for the future once he's healthy and presumptively steals the starting job away from Tagovailoa, that won't snap the streak; it is still consecutive seasons with different starters. I think you get the idea by now.
Atlanta continues to be caught in a predicament that has no clear answer. At this point, you hope there is no gray area this season. The worst thing that can happen is an average season -- Penix Jr. doesn't do enough to show he is the future, while the team doesn't land a top-5 pick to get a top prospect.
The good news is next year's class is shaping up to be another all-timer, similar to Penix Jr.'s: Texas' Arch Manning, Oklahoma State's Drew Mestemaker, Oregon's Dante Moore, South Carolina's LaNorris Sellers, Notre Dame's CJ Carr, Ohio State's Julian Sayin, and my favorite, Ole Miss' Trinidad Chambliss
Obviously, getting your choice at any of those guys is the best-case scenario. But if there were ever a year when you could land a mid-first-round franchise legend, it would be in 2027.
It will either take Michael Penix Jr. becoming the franchise leader or one of those prospects for the Dirty Birds to snap their ugly streak two years from now unless Tua Tagovailoa pulls a rabbit out of his hat and turns back the clock.
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