The Atlanta Falcons were forced to start Cooper Rush at quarterback in Week 1, a loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Before they take on the Carolina Panthers in Week 2, the Falcons still have some uncertainty about which QB will be atop the depth chart for the NFC South Division clash.
Rush performed poorly in the season-opening loss, but he was in there because neither Tua Tagovailoa nor Michael Penix Jr. was available due to injuries.
The Falcons also have Jack Strand, the undrafted rookie QB from the Division II level.
The Panthers scored 37 points in Week 1 (while allowing 59), so the Falcons will likely need to put some points on the board to have a chance of staying in the game against Carolina.
Quarterback, obviously, will be pivotal to Atlanta’s chances of bouncing back from a Week 1 loss to get a Week 2 win.
Falcons QB Depth Chart
NFL depth charts released by teams are relatively unofficial, but the Falcons did put one out on Tuesday.
Tagovailoa was listed as the starter on the Week 2 depth chart for Atlanta.
Rush was listed as his direct backup.
Strand was then in the QB3 spot.
That left Penix placed in a reserve spot — not injured reserve, but just a separate spot behind the other quarterbacks.
This is how the Falcons listed it early last week, as well.
Tua Tagovailoa is listed as the #Falcons starter on the team’s Week 2 depth chart. Doesn’t necessarily mean anything. Kevin Stefanski has yet to say who will start against the Panthers on Sunday.
Cooper Rush was listed as the backup with Jack Strand as QB3 and Michael Penix Jr.…
— Marc Raimondi (@marcraimondi) September 15, 2026
Tagovailoa hurt his oblique in practice on Thursday before Week 1 Sunday, and it wasn’t totally clear at the time when he might recover.
It was enough to keep him out of practice action and then out of the Steelers game, so that’ll be one of the first things Falcons fans will have to watch this week as injury reports come out and reveal more about Tua’s health.
Michael Penix Jr. Waiting Game
The Falcons are counting on Penix to get back at some point from his season-ending knee injury, but they’re ramping him up cautiously to avoid further issues.
There’s some assumption that he’ll start upon his return, but Atlanta isn’t rushing into that apparently.
Maybe the Week 2 depth chart means nothing, but the implication is that Penix will need at least another week to recover.
The Falcons do play on Thursday night in Week 3 with a quick turnaround, which also complicates matters, but at the moment, this seems like a situation that won’t be determined for sure until later in the week.
It might make things slightly tougher on the Panthers as far as which QB to prepare for, but it would certainly help the Falcons to simply know what’s going on with their own offense.
Falcons’ QB Depth Chart Revealed for Week 2