July 12, 2026, 2:00 p.m. ET

The greatest athletes tend to have a heavy chip on their shoulder. Tom Brady came into the NFL as a sixth-round draft pick and exactly nobody predicted that he would be anything special as a pro. If he could find no real disrespect, Michael Jordan would even invent slights in his head to provide his motivation.

The Atlanta Falcons don’t need to make up any slights – they’re getting plenty of those this year from the national media – the latest of which has them ranked 27th in the league despite a very talented group of skill players.

Here are five Falcons players who have the most to prove this coming season.

QB Michael Penix Jr.

Penix has yet to get a truly fair shake at this level. He should never have had to compete with Kirk Cousins as a rookie and another knee injury has put his development far behind schedule. So far Penix has posted a passer rating of 100 or better in only three of his 12 starts for Atlanta. He needs to break through this year or he’ll be in danger of never catching on with the team that drafted him No. 8 overall.

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QB Tua Tagovailoa

The Falcons’ other potential starting quarterback should also be highly motivated to have a strong year. Tagovailoa is coming off such a poor couple of seasons that the Miami Dolphins decided to eat a $99 million dead money hit rather than keep him as their starter. Tua has to prove he can still thrive at this level or his career may be over sooner rather than later.

WR Jahan Dotson

Dotson came into the NFL as a first-round pick with Washington and he had a very promising rookie year. However, his production ever since has been extremely unimpressive and he’s only scored one touchdown over his last 34 games. Dotson has an opportunity to earn Atlanta’s WR2 role behind Drake London, but only if he can get back to performing like he did back in 2022.

OLB Jalon Walker

The Falcons got a sensational rookie season from their young gun on the edge, only it was James Pearce Jr. – who was taken 11 spots after Jalon Walker in last year’s NFL Draft. Walker’s numbers were only roughly half of what Atlanta got from Pearce, who may face a lengthy suspension by the league office this season. With Pearce out Walker has to step up and prove he was worth a first-round pick.

CB Avieon Terrell

Atlanta had no first-rounder this year thanks to the trade up for Pearce, making second-round selection Avieon Terrell their top pick. As a rookie Terrell will compete with veteran Mike Hughes for the spot opposite his older brother A.J. Terrell on the right boundary. Terrell’s big challenge will be proving that his lack of size won’t be a problem outside and that he won’t need to play nickel at this level in order to stick around.