Marc Raimondi
FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. — Kaden Elliss was licking his chops going into coaching camp final yr. The Atlanta Falcons' inside linebacker knew a rookie, first-round decide Michael Penix Jr., was operating the second-team offense.
In camp practices, the Falcons sometimes have the first-team protection face the second-team offense, and vice versa. And for Elliss, Penix can be a sacrificial lamb for the Atlanta protection whereas he bought in control on the NFL.
“I used to be like, ‘Sure, I am about to get my palms on a bunch of interceptions — I am about to make a bunch of massive performs,'” Elliss mentioned.
Then, one thing bizarre occurred. Penix operated like a veteran, not often making errant throws, airing out passes down the sector and maintaining his interceptions to a minimal.
“I did not get him as soon as all coaching camp, and he simply did not do ill-advised issues, however he nonetheless let his arm expertise present each single day,” Elliss mentioned. “And there is loads of guys with wonderful arm expertise that could be on a sofa, that are not beginning within the NFL, that may make each throw … however who cannot mix letting their arm expertise shine whereas additionally taking part in sensible, and Penix does each in such an incredible approach.”
The Falcons shocked the league once they drafted Penix at No. 8 in 2024 after already having signed veteran quarterback Kirk Cousins to a $100 million assured contract weeks earlier. However the group knew it had one thing in Penix early, and there hasn't been any remorse since.
Penix took over for a struggling Cousins late final season. There have been ups and downs throughout his seven profession begins, although the principle throughline has been his calm below stress and skill to battle again from adversity. This week, Penix will make his first begin on “Monday Night time Soccer” in opposition to the Buffalo Payments, who're yielding the second-fewest passing yards per recreation (154.0). He has performed nothing to make the Falcons' teaching workers or entrance workplace imagine he's not as much as the duty.
“I really feel nice with Mike in each recreation,” Falcons coach Raheem Morris mentioned. … “I feel these video games are large.
“It is enjoyable to look at, it is enjoyable to be part of. It is enjoyable to look at these guys develop and develop, and I've bought the utmost confidence in Mike.”
In Week 3, Penix had his worst efficiency. He threw two interceptions, together with his first profession pick-six, in a 30-0 loss to the Carolina Panthers. Penix rebounded in a significant approach two weeks in the past, main the Falcons to a 34-27 win over the Washington Commanders. He was 20-of-26 passing for a career-high 313 yards with 2 touchdowns and an interception.
“That's the telltale signal for quarterbacks: the way you reply,” Morris mentioned. “It would not go your approach, it isn't completely what you need it to seem like within the recreation, and you need to reply and play higher — and clearly, you have to play higher round him — however how do you reply?
“And I liked his observe response. I liked his verbal response to his group. I liked his response within the recreation, and I liked his response of figuring out it is a course of and I really like how he reacted to the criticism. I really like how he reacted to every little thing.”
PENIX TRANSFERRED TO Tampa Bay Technical Excessive Faculty within the spring of his sophomore yr. The soccer group already had a longtime beginning quarterback, so Penix started as a third-stringer.
That lasted “two-and-a-half, perhaps three practices,” in response to Tampa Bay Tech coach Jayson Roberts.
“I feel the primary time he threw the deep out from the alternative hash to the sideline and it bought there on a rope and nearly broke the receiver's fingers, all of us type of checked out one another,” Roberts informed ESPN. “That is totally different.”
Penix has spent nearly his complete time in soccer making an attempt to show himself and coping with adversity. In six school seasons, with Indiana and Washington, he had 4 season-ending accidents, together with a pair of torn ACLs. Penix returned as a senior at Washington and took the group to the nationwide championship recreation. He led the nation in passing yards (4,903) and completed second in Heisman voting, the very best ever for a Huskies participant.
After he was drafted by the Falcons, he was on the bench once more — behind Cousins — and it appeared like that was the place he would keep for the foreseeable future. Atlanta normal supervisor Terry Fontenot mentioned on draft evening that Penix may sit for “4 or 5 years” if Cousins was excelling.
Penix was purported to be taught from Cousins throughout these years, then grow to be the starter down the street, a plan the group described because the “Inexperienced Bay mannequin.” Because it turned out, the transition got here before most thought.
After main the Falcons to a 6-3 begin, their greatest since their 2016 Tremendous Bowl season, Cousins faltered in November and December. Cousins led the NFL in interceptions (16) and fumbles (12, tied with Baker Mayfield) when he was benched Dec. 16.
A five-game stretch with 9 interceptions and only one landing cross in the end prompted Morris to take a seat Cousins and begin Penix “shifting ahead.”
Penix led the Falcons previous the New York Giants in his first begin after which guided a game-tying, fourth-quarter drive in opposition to the Washington Commanders in Week 17. Penix's first profession landing cross was a laser to tight finish Kyle Pitts Sr. on a fourth-and-13 to tie the rating with 1:17 left in regulation. Atlanta misplaced that recreation in extra time to all however squash its playoff hopes, however Penix put his group in place to win it.
“Poised,” Falcons huge receiver Darnell Mooney mentioned, describing Penix on the finish of regulation. “Simply consolation. Did not actually get confused at any second. He was prepared.”
Penix ran the scout group offense all through the 2024 season earlier than getting the beginning function. Throughout one observe, then-defensive coordinator Jimmy Lake threw an unique blitz at him. The cornerback pressured from a singular place. Penix, a left-hander, noticed it and fired a 15-yard strike exterior the numbers for a primary down.
“And he regarded to the sideline, and he says, ‘Oh, do not do this, Coach Lake — do not do this,'” Lake mentioned. … “He began laughing, and that is a second that I bear in mind the place I used to be like, ‘OK, he can see it.' And clearly the expertise, he can rip this ball anyplace throughout the sector.”
The arm expertise jumps off the web page. It is what each scout was speaking about heading into the draft. However what Lake observed was one thing former Indiana coach Tom Allen noticed in Penix from an early age, proper out of Tampa Bay Tech.
“We thought we had a particular participant once we bought him and, when he bought there, he simply had loads of bodily expertise, and it confirmed up early in observe, simply with the ability to make loads of throws that loads of guys cannot make at that age,” mentioned Allen, who's now Clemson's defensive coordinator. “However the factor that impressed me was simply processing, and I feel that is one thing that caught out this entire time with us, and it continues to indicate robust and that's the potential to investigate defenses, make fast selections mentally and simply actually know the place to take the ball and browse coverages.”
Penix's demeanor helps him do this. Morris joked that Penix is “not going to die from a coronary heart assault.”
When Atlanta offensive coordinator Zac Robinson referred to as Penix on Dec. 16, 2024, to inform him he can be the group's starter, Penix was procuring at Costco together with his then-girlfriend (and now fiancée) Olivia Carter. Penix mentioned he was about to purchase a scorching canine, however when he obtained the information, he wasn't hungry anymore. That is about as a lot pleasure as he reveals.
Kalen DeBoer, Penix's former coach at Washington and now the coach at Alabama, mentioned that poise comes from the hardships Penix has overcome, together with these season-ending accidents.
“Simply actually regular,” DeBoer mentioned. “He was good within the huge moments. I feel that is loads of simply his character. I feel there's loads of experiences he went by the place he simply understands that adversity goes to return and that dealing with it the fitting approach and type of predetermining your response and what that is going to be.
“He is realized lots with every little thing he is been by.”
PENIX PLAYED FOUR sports activities — soccer, basketball, baseball, and observe and area — in highschool. He is 6-foot-2 and has a vertical bounce of 36½ inches. Tampa Bay Tech went undefeated within the one season Penix performed hoops.
“It was a freaking spotlight,” Roberts mentioned. “We had packed gyms as a result of all people needed to see Mike catch alley-oops and dunk on folks. … I feel in all probability the a part of his recreation most underrated is simply how a lot of a freak athlete he's.”
Penix, 24, ran a sub-4.6-second 40-yard sprint at his professional day in March 2024, and he mentioned he can run one within the 4.4s. However that is part of Penix's recreation he'd fairly not exhibit.
Roberts mentioned he and his teaching workers needed to trick Penix to show his wheels when he was a senior. On the time, Penix was dedicated to Tennessee, and Roberts informed him that coaches from the varsity have been coming to his subsequent recreation and needed to see his mobility.
Volunteer coaches have been coming to the sport, however they weren't as involved about Penix's legs as Roberts made it appear. The discuss generated the specified end result, although.
“After we type of put that in his head, I feel the primary time we dropped again to cross and no person was instantly open, he pulled it down and went like 80 yards for a landing,” Roberts mentioned.
Penix confirmed in Week 1 this season that he could make performs together with his toes when wanted. He scrambled twice within the fourth quarter in opposition to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on fourth down, as soon as for a primary down and the second time for a landing that put the Falcons forward 20-17.
Like within the recreation in opposition to the Commanders final season, the Falcons did not execute down the stretch to get the victory. However that modified in victories over the Vikings and Commanders this season. The one one in all Penix's seven begins to date that he hasn't put the Falcons in place to win was in opposition to the Panthers in Week 3, a shutout loss that Morris described as “nasty” and “disgusting.”
For the primary time on an NFL area, Penix was visibly pissed off, slinging the ball into the grass on a couple of event after a damaged play or penalty. His headset audio was going out and in. Nothing went proper. The Falcons fired huge receivers coach Ike Hilliard after the brutal loss and moved Zac Robinson to the sideline from the teaching field to name performs.
However, greater than something, the criticism was on Penix. Perhaps he was not the franchise quarterback the Falcons had hoped for and deemed him to be.
Slightly than sulking, Penix returned to the group's facility with a swagger in his step the subsequent day. All-Professional security Jessie Bates III mentioned Penix apologized a number of instances to the group's protection. Morris knew instantly that Penix — and the Falcons — can be advantageous. They usually have been, beating the Commanders due to Penix's bounce-back efficiency.
“All of us are right here for a cause, and one thing that [quarterbacks coach] DJ [Williams] informed me, it was like, ‘Simply be your self,'” Penix mentioned. “Do not go on the market and really feel like you have to be Superman and attempt to do every little thing. On the finish of the day, we're all right here for a cause, and we simply bought to imagine in that and simply go on the market, execute and we'll be all good.”
The Falcons are more than pleased with Penix being himself. That is why they drafted him as excessive as they did, why they're so assured in his continued growth and why Morris has been “enamored” with him since he got here by the door.
“I do not need to sit right here and say I confirmed different folks one thing about me or about this group, however it's all about us, man,” Penix mentioned after the Week 4 win. “It isn't all the time going to be excellent. Like I mentioned, I really feel like I confirmed myself that I need to be right here and I belong.”
Week 6 marks Penix's first begin on “Monday Night time Soccer.” And the Falcons are more than pleased to be using into battle with him below that highlight in opposition to one of many NFL's elite groups.
“I am so glad he is our quarterback,” Elliss mentioned, “and I do know he can take us so far as we need to go.”
