The Falcons still haven’t tipped their hand on Week 1, and that includes the most important spot on the field.
General manager Ian Cunningham said Tuesday that the team has not settled on its starting quarterback for the opener against the Steelers. Asked about the competition, Cunningham made it plain: “Not yet.”
That leaves the Falcons with less than two weeks before the first snap of the season and no official answer at quarterback. The feeling around the situation is that the job comes down to Tua and Penix, with Penix’s health looming as the biggest piece of the puzzle.
Tua had his chances in the preseason and didn’t make the kind of case that forces the issue, while Penix was only cleared for 11-on-11 work last week. How quickly he’s comfortable in a brand new offense is still unknown to everyone outside the building.
Inside the building, though, the Falcons almost certainly know where this is headed. There’s no reason to let the Steelers know anything before they have to.
Cunningham also addressed the trade for Gervon Dexter Sr., and he didn’t try to dress it up. The message was simple: if a player of that level is available at that price, you make the move.
“When you can get a player of Gervon's Caliber for the price we paid, we feel its in our best interest to do that.”
Cunningham added that Dexter is a late bloomer to football, noting that he spent his younger years focused more on basketball. He also pointed to the potential impact Dexter and Maason Smith can have together in the middle of the Falcons’ defensive front.
That front is going to be one of the biggest things to watch in Week 1. The Falcons’ pass rush was one of the bright spots of the 2025 season, a long-awaited breakthrough after two decades of struggle. They finished second in the league in sacks with a franchise-record 57.
And now the new regime has ripped it up and started over. There are plenty of new faces on the defensive line, and a lot of them are expected to take starting reps this season. The first few weeks should tell the story quickly: whether this front office really found the right pieces for one of football’s most important positions.
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Michael Penix Jr. is still viewed as the frontrunner for the Week 1 role, but Tuas inconsistent preseason showing left the door open without giving Atlanta much clarity. The question now is less about whether he can push his way into the mix and more about how much his path depends on Penix staying healthy. [Read more 🡒]
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The tradeoff is straightforward, and it matters on game day: carrying an extra quarterback takes up one of the precious spots on a 53-man roster. For Atlanta, that means the decision is not only about developing a young passer or preserving flexibility, but also about what gets squeezed out elsewhere when the Falcons need to dress for Sundays. The league keeps showing that teams are willing to live with that cost, but it also leaves open how much patience each club will have once the games start counting. [Read more 🡒]
Falcons Roster Criticism Is Missing One Key Part Of This Move
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Morriss path since then has only sharpened the debate, with injury and competition helping push him off the Chiefs roster before he landed on the Cowboys practice squad. Still, the draft-pick criticism around the Falcons may be missing a key part of the equation: the team is expected to make up that lost selection through compensatory picks tied to recent player departures, which changes the real cost of taking the swing. [Read more 🡒]