Michael Penix Jr. Shows Growth Under Center as Tua Tagovailoa Set to Start Falcons Preseason Opener

Michael Penix Jr. is winning a smaller battle inside a bigger one. As the Atlanta Falcons sort out their starting quarterback job between Penix and Tua Tagovailoa, Penix has quietly cleaned up one of the rawer parts of his game: dropping back from under center.

Head coach Kevin Stefanski flagged the improvement himself.

“Very pleased in that area, specifically,” Stefanski said, crediting quarterbacks coach Alex Van Pelt and the work the players have put in.

Stefanski’s offense leans on under-center concepts to set up play-action, a wrinkle Penix rarely used in his first two Atlanta seasons, when he lived almost exclusively in shotgun and pistol formations.

The timing of that praise matters. Stefanski announced Wednesday that Tagovailoa will start Friday’s preseason opener against the Denver Broncos at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, with Falcons starters expected to play roughly one series before giving way to Cooper Rush and undrafted rookie Jack Strand. Stefanski was careful to separate that decision from any Week 1 announcement.

“We’re not there to name a starter for Week 1,” he said. “We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.”

Penix remains sidelined from that opener. He’s still working back from the torn ACL he suffered in Week 11 of the 2025 season, and he isn’t yet cleared for 11-on-11 team reps, which has left Tagovailoa handling the bulk of first-team work in camp. Stefanski relayed one encouraging note on Penix’s knee:

doctors have called it “an amazing ACL” that “should never have any more knee problems for the rest of his career,” according to Stefanski’s comments relayed by ESPN.

Even limited to 7-on-7 work, Penix has flashed the arm talent that made him the eighth overall pick in 2024. During a recent practice, he threaded a 25-yard sideline strike to tight end Kyle Pitts into a tight window, the kind of throw that keeps his name in the Week 1 conversation even while he watches team drills from the side.

Falcons quarterbacks coach Alex Van Pelt has been the connective tissue in both quarterbacks’ development. On the under-center work specifically, Van Pelt told Falcons.com that getting both quarterbacks comfortable there is a priority because it opens up the play-action passing game. He said Penix is picking it up well despite the limited reps, running daily drill work even though he can’t yet apply it against a full defense.

Tagovailoa arrives at Friday’s game further along physically than he was a few weeks ago. He missed the start of training camp with back tightness and has been ramping up workload gradually since. Van Pelt told SI’s Falcons site that the missed time set Tagovailoa back initially, but that he’s picked up the system’s play calls and protection adjustments in recent practices.

What Penix’s 2024 Preseason Debut Showed

Fans got an early look at Penix’s ceiling during his 2024 preseason debut, when he completed 9 of 16 passes for 104 yards. It was a small sample, but it hinted at the ball placement and arm strength that made him a first-round pick out of Washington.

Those numbers, reported by Sportscasting, show two very different profiles. Penix threw far fewer interceptions relative to his workload, while Tagovailoa’s larger sample includes the volume and touchdown production that made him a Pro Bowler in Miami before a rocky final season there.

Nothing about the Week 1 job is decided. Tagovailoa currently holds the edge simply because he’s healthy enough to take the reps that matter, but Stefanski and Van Pelt have both stopped short of naming him the starter. If Penix keeps refining his footwork and stacking throws like the one to Pitts once he’s cleared for full contact work, this competition could get considerably more interesting before the Falcons open their regular season September 13 against the Pittsburgh Steelers.