Are the Falcons facing another reset at quarterback? - ESPN

FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. — Michael Penix Jr. dropped to the grass and flung off his helmet.

They were the actions of a man who felt more frustration than pain, of someone who knew exactly what had just happened before anyone else in the stadium did. They were actions that summed up the disappointment of this Atlanta Falcons season.

Penix, the team's quarterback, took a hit in the third quarter against the Carolina Panthers in Week 11 and tore his left ACL. He'll need season-ending surgery. It was the third time Penix has torn an ACL; in college, he suffered the same injury to his right knee twice. Penix's first season starting from Week 1 was upended with the Falcons en route to a 3-7 record.

Atlanta aggressively invested in the quarterback position during the 2024 offseason. The Falcons signed veteran Kirk Cousins, coming off a torn Achilles, to a four-year contract with $100 million guaranteed. Then, after believing they acquired their quarterback of the present, they drafted who they believed would be their quarterback of the future, Penix, with the No. 8 pick.

Fast-forward 19 months later and neither decision has worked out. Cousins lost his starting role last season and has played poorly in spelling Penix in 2025. Penix is out for the rest of the season and possibly the start of next, if not longer.

Despite a two-pronged approach to fix a disastrous quarterback situation, the Falcons could find themselves going into this offseason in the same predicament they were after trading Matt Ryan in 2021: no clear answer at QB.

Could Penix be the Falcons' Week 1 starter in 2026? Coach Raheem Morris said last week that he would not want to say no to that proposition. However, Morris also said that Penix's injury forces the Falcons