The Atlanta Falcons had quite the media audience watching one of their side practice fields on Wednesday.
That’s because Michael Penix Jr. was there, not on the main field.
Penix, who has yet to return to game action after his 2025 season-ending knee injury, was throwing on a side field, and this was the scene:
Michael Penix Jr. is throwing, and he’s drawn a crowd. Penix opened practice today throwing while the rest of the group went through it’s normal stretching warm-up. pic.twitter.com/e7hrd6qZ1b
— Josh Kendall (@JoshTheAthletic) September 16, 2026
There’s an element of mystery with Penix at the moment. It seems everyone wants to know what the real scoop with him is.
He has been cleared, but the Falcons are playing it safe with their young QB who has now torn an ACL three times since he began his college football career.
With Penix out, and with Tua Tagovailoa (oblique) having missed Week 1, this has been Cooper Rush’s team until proven otherwise.
It’s just not clear there’s much reason for optimism as long as Rush is playing QB.
Bad Signs for Falcons
Penix on a side field is a bad sign. A guy who is supposed to start at quarterback in the week ahead would likely be with his teammates stretching and preparing for practice.
Tagovailoa not practicing Wednesday, which head coach Kevin Stefanski mentioned beforehand, is another bad sign.
Stefanski isn’t ruling Tagovailoa out, but again, it’s not that common that a QB misses practice at the start of the week but then starts on Sunday.
No Tua Tagovailoa at practice and Michael Penix on another field… https://t.co/8lZOHrwrWx
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) September 16, 2026
There was one good sign: After Rush threw first to receivers during routes on air, Penix stepped in and took part, too:
Will he play? Don’t know. Will he start? Don’t know. Will he take first-team reps in team? Don’t know. Has he told the team he’s ready? Don’t know.
Hope to find out more on at least a few of these after practice.
— Daniel Flick (@ByDanielFlick) September 16, 2026
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The lefty QBs were expected to duke it out for the starting job.
Instead, Tagovailoa won it by default with Penix still ramping up to full speed, but then Tagovailoa got hurt, and now neither southpaw is taking part in the QB1 competition at the moment.
Cooper Rush Injured, Too
Maybe the most ironic part of this is that Rush is also dealing with an injury.
A report emerged last weekend that Rush had back spasms, but that he’d still be good to play in Week 1, and he did indeed start the opener.
Stefanski told reporters Wednesday that Rush isn’t 100% but that the veteran backup QB would be a full participant in practice.
In that regard, Rush seems ahead of Penix and Tagovailoa. But it’s not even a sure thing that he’ll stay intact going forward, as back injuries can definitely be a pain.
The Falcons certainly didn’t sign up for this chaos, but it’s some serious early-season adversity that they get to navigate. Whether or not they can do so successfully could determine the overall outlook for this Atlanta season.
Bad Signs for Falcons’ QBs Michael Penix Jr., Tua Tagovailoa