Andrew Buller-Russ
There’s an old saying in football that if you have two quarterbacks, then you really have none at all. The theory is that having two starting-caliber QBs causes drama, friction, and divides the locker room. The Atlanta Falcons are out to prove that old adage wrong.
This offseason, we saw Falcons team president Matt Ryan sign former Pro Bowl quarterback Tua Tagovailoa. It was a noticeable move, considering the team had just selected Michael Penix Jr. with the eighth overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft.
However, Penix has only made 12 starts total across the past two seasons, and now he’s working his way back from a torn ACL suffered on Nov. 16th, 2025. With Tagovailoa and Penix, the plan is for both to compete for the opportunity to start at QB for new Falcons head coach Kevin Stefanski.
With Falcons OTAs underway, now we know how the team is splitting first-team reps.
According to The Athletic‘s Falcons insider Josh Kendall, the plan is for Tagovailoa and Penix to split first-team reps at OTAs. Yet, Penix isn’t quite ready to begin doing team work yet, but he has been busy throwing on the field, where he “looks good” according to Kendall.
Stefanski says the team’s structuring of reps is “all very intentional.” The Falcons have over four months to figure it out, with their first regular season game scheduled for Sept. 13 against Mike McCarthy and Aaron Rodgers‘ Pittsburgh Steelers.
Related: 2026 NFL QB Rankings After Aaron Rodgers Re-Joins Steelers
