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The Atlanta Falcons are committed to Michael Penix Jr. as their starting quarterback for the remainder of the 2024 season.
Per Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio, Penix is going to remain atop the depth chart barring an injury.
Falcons head coach Raheem Morris announced on Tuesday that Penix was replacing Kirk Cousins as the starter “going forward.”
Even though that seemed to signal Penix was locked in to the starting job for the rest of the season, Morris did leave some wiggle room during his Wednesday press conference.
“I don’t think anything is ever permanent in the National Football League, but right now Michael Penix is our quarterback,” Morris said. “We’re gonna back him and give him the utmost support that he needs.”
While it’s not uncommon for coaches to avoid speaking in absolute terms because things can flip in a hurry in the NFL, it wouldn’t make sense for the Falcons to make this change to a rookie without being fully committed to him.
It would be especially odd if they had such a short leash on him with just three games remaining in the regular season. Another wrinkle in the situation is ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported on Saturday that Cousins is expected to be released before his $10 million roster bonus kicks in on March 17.
The roster bonus is for the 2026 season, but kicks in on the fifth day of the 2025 league year and is also injury guaranteed, so if Cousins were to suffer a major injury before the end of this season, he would be owed that money no matter what.
The Falcons could still make the playoffs since they are only one game behind the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the NFC South and hold the tiebreaker by winning both head-to-head meetings, but the top priority right now has to be seeing what Penix can do as they think about 2025.
Penix, the No. 8 pick in the 2024 draft, will make his first career start on Sunday against the New York Giants. He is 3-of-5 for 38 yards in two games playing mop-up duty in the fourth quarter this season.