Falcons named Michael Penix as the starter for Week 3 against the Packers.

21 September 2026

Penix will make his first start since Week 11 of last season, when he suffered a torn ACL against the Panthers. If he plays well enough, Penix will have a chance to secure the starting job for the remainder of the season, but he will have Tua Tagovailoa looming in the background once he is fully recovered from his oblique injury. Penix has struggled early in his career, throwing for 2,757-12-6 in 14 career games while completing just 59.6 percent of his passes. It seems unlikely that he will hold onto the job for the remaining 15 games of the season, but he’ll get the first legitimate crack at it after the Falcons were forced to start Cooper Rush for the first two weeks of the season. Penix shouldn’t be viewed as anything more than a low-end QB2 for fantasy purposes on Thursday night against the Packers.