FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. — The Atlanta Falcons are back in quarterback purgatory, a place they believed they had a plan in place to avoid.
Michael Penix Jr. is done for the remainder of the year with a partially torn ACL in his left leg that will require surgery. The reported recovery time is nine months, which would put Penix in the window to return at the start of the 2026 season. The Falcons will move forward with Kirk Cousins as the team's starter for the remainder of 2025. Beyond that? It is anyone's guess as head coach Raheem Morris confirmed Wednesday the team's offseason quarterback plans must change and evolve in the wake of Penix's injury.
The most frustrating part of all of this is the fact the Falcons actually had a plan in place to make sure they didn't find themselves in this purgatory again.
After the pursuit of Deshaun Watson and the subsequent trading of Matt Ryan to the Indianapolis Colts in March 2021, the Falcons entered into a tumultuous period at arguably the most important position in all of sports. They signed Marcus Mariota to a short-term deal. They drafted Desmond Ridder that same offseason. Mariota didn't make it through the next season. Ridder finished out the year under center and went into the next year as the team's starter. He didn't last, either, and the Falcons turned to journeyman Taylor Heinicke in relief.
It was two years of this quarterback carousel, as then-coach Arthur Smith dubbed it. When Morris was hired in Smith's place, he said in his opening press conference that addressing this not-so-merry-go-round was paramount. If the Falcons had figured out the quarterback position in the years prior, Morris said at the NFL Combine that offseason, perhaps he wouldn't even be the head coach of the organization.
So, the Falcons set a plan in motion, signing Cousins to a lucrative deal to be the Falcons' starting quarterback for at least two seasons. They then drafted Penix in the first round of the 2024 NFL Draft at No. 8 overall.
Falcons leadership said at the time that while drafting a successor to a quarterback who had yet to play a down for the organization was not common, it was an insurance plan they wanted in place to ensure the organization didn't find itself in the same situation it was in following Ryan's departure with no clear succession plan in place.
"If you would have told me at that time that we would have Kirk Cousins for right now and Michael Penix for the future," Falcons general manager Terry Fontenot said then, "I would have told you it was a pipe dream."
Cousins was in Atlanta for the now. Penix was the future. That was Plan A: To have Cousins start for a few years as Penix learned the ropes behind him. Then, Cousins was welcomed to ride off into the sunset, ushering in the Penix era.
The future, however, came quickly as the Falcons had to turn to Penix in the final three games of the 2024 season because of a stark decline in play from Cousins. Thus, Plan B was enacted.
The Falcons would move forward with Penix as the starter. He would grow on the fly, and the Falcons would keep Cousins on the roster as the backup. A very expensive backup, yes, but it was a portion of the salary cap going to the quarterback the organization could handle, seeing as Penix was on his rookie deal.
Now, though, Plan C, D, maybe F or G — the part of the story the Falcons tried so hard to avoid — is here.
Penix is hurt, yet another season-ending injury for a player who sustained four prior to his professional career even beginning. The quarterback will not be able to finish out the year, missing out on reps that were important for his development. At times, Penix looked the part of a superstar arm talent and future franchise quarterback. At other times, he looked like he had a lot of growing still left to do. Which, had he gotten the reps for a season's entirety, is a more bearable place to be going into 2026.
That is no longer the case.
Morris said that as of Wednesday, Penix had not had the surgery necessary to repair the partially torn ligament, and that it would happen "sooner rather than later."
So, let's just say we're talking about a nine-month recovery time (pretty average for ACL surgeries, as has been reported). That would put Penix back to relatively full strength in mid-August. That could mean Penix doesn't even get to the point of being able to start for the team in Week 1 of the 2026 season. That's just speculation, but I would argue if Penix doesn't have the surgery soon, it could be a possibility.
Either way, Penix's health has to change the Falcons' offseason quarterback plans and pursuits. It has to.
"To answer that in the shortest possible way is yes," Morris said. "You've definitely got to go out and make some different plans when we talk about the offseason, but we'll talk about that and address that when we get there. Right now, we've got to prepare for the New Orleans Saints, and that's what we'll do. But that's always got to be something that's on your mind regardless and definitely puts it on your mind a little bit more with this happening."
Now the Falcons enter into — what? — Plan L, M, N, O, P of a quarterback problem that continues to rear its ugly head.
This isn't to say the plan to have Penix develop into the franchise's next quarterback isn't what ultimately still comes to pass. It could. But no one will know that until (I would argue) 2026 is over, maybe even longer if he has any physical limitations.
Can the organization continue to wait that long for sustainability at the position? I am not sure.
Regardless, the plan has to evolve — again, even though leadership hoped they'd fully addressed the issue two years ago. They did, at the time. That plan, though? It's derailed for the time being. And the Falcons have to find a way out of a situation they've been in too many times in the last five years: With a major quarterbacking question on their hands.
