GREEN BAY, Wis. — A tear slipped out of Michael Penix Jr.’s eye. He was in the cramped visitors’ locker room deep in the tunnels of Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens.
It was the Falcons’ final preseason game. Penix had just been cleared to participate in 11-on-11 work a handful of days earlier. He wasn’t yet ready to play at full capacity. After all, he’d only had a few days of practice as a full participant.
Still, as Penix went through pregame warmups on the field, the sticky Miami heat clinging to his body, frustration bloomed deep within him.
He wasn’t ready yet. He didn’t feel as though he was. And in that moment, surrounded by teammates, that frustration had reached a boiling point. Like a pot of water left on the stove, the frustration boiled over.
Perhaps no one would see the tears that flowed. Maybe Penix could keep them to himself. But his locker mate, a man who very rarely misses slight movements and adjustments on the field, noticed.
Jessie Bates III could see the emotion on Penix’s face. It embedded itself in the veteran safety’s own mind, too.
“Before that last preseason game, he was in that locker room crying because he wanted to be ready,” Bates recalled. “I know how much it means to him.”
Penix opened up at various points over the last couple of weeks about the end of his rehab and recovery. Though this was his third go-around with ACL surgery, the recovery took longer. Part of that was because no one wanted to rush Penix back — Penix didn’t want that, either — but it was also because the surgery itself was different.
By the final week of the preseason, Penix knew he wasn’t at 100% yet. That’s why that tear fell from his eyes in that Miami locker room.
By Week 1, Penix knew the hurdles he had to clear. He needed to build some strength back up. He needed to work through the soreness that comes with spending more than 300 days away from the game and then getting hit again.
And he needed to feel comfortable, in both mind and body. Every day, he worked toward that comfort by being uncomfortable.
“He’s the definition of resiliency,” Drake London said.