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 to rethink their approach to the quarterback position in the offseason.
"You've definitely got to go and make some different plans," Morris said.
Morris said Penix plans on having surgery very soon and it'll be in Los Angeles, sources told ESPN's Adam Schefter. A full ACL reconstruction can have a player back in nine months, which in this case would mean August and perhaps some point during training camp. But there's no guarantee, especially for someone with Penix's injury history.
Morris believes the two previous ACL tears are actually an advantage for Penix, because Penix will know what to expect and understands the rehab process better than most.
"Tough injury he's got to go through again," Morris said. "He's dealt with it, but what we know of Mike and all the stuff that we've done from our research, from all the injuries, [he has] come back stronger. We feel really confident that this will be the same way. I have no doubt that Mike's going to attack this rehab and attack all things that can get done to be ready for his team and ready to go as soon as possible."
Even if Penix is back earlier, the Falcons will still need a quarterback to bridge that gap, someone who can also be an insurance policy if things don't go as hoped. Could that be Cousins? It doesn't seem likely, unless he plays very well the rest of this season. Last Sunday, Cousins was competent in a road win against the New Orleans Saints: 16-of-23 passing for two touchdowns and an interception. His QBR was 38.3.
There are salary cap considerations. If the Falcons were to designate Cousins as a post-June 1 release in 2026, they would save $32.5 million, per Roster Management System. Atlanta would still take on $25 million in dead cap money in 2026 and another $12.5 million in 2027, but it could use the cap savings on a roster that has multiple holes to fill, especially given that the Falcons do not have a first-round draft pick. Cousins could also restructure his deal if he wishes to stay, though that seems unlikely if Penix is bound to get the starting job upon his return.
The other big question is who will be shaping that roster for next season and beyond. Morris and general manager Terry Fontenot could be on the hot seat. Fontenot is in his fifth season, and the Falcons have yet to have a winning record or make a playoff appearance in his tenure. Morris is in his second season. Overall, the Falcons have not made the playoffs since 2017, the second-longest active drought in the NFL.
"That's what we do in this business," Morris said when asked about job security. "That's just a part of it, right? You always think about that's just part of it. That's our job. Our job is winning and that's what we're supposed to do and that's always going to be something that we can talk about."
Fontenot traded an aging Ryan to the Indianapolis Colts after the 2021 season. Since then, the Falcons have had a revolving door at quarterback: Marcus Mariota, Desmond Ridder, Taylor Heinicke, Cousins and Penix.
A little more than a year and a half ago, the Falcons thought they had the solution, doubling down by acquiring both Cousins and Penix. It's a probability that neither one of them is the team's starter when the 2026 season opens.