{"id":900213,"date":"2026-05-24T19:21:21","date_gmt":"2026-05-24T19:21:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/900213\/"},"modified":"2026-05-24T19:21:21","modified_gmt":"2026-05-24T19:21:21","slug":"falcons-qb-listed-among-nfls-make-or-break-players-in-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/900213\/","title":{"rendered":"Falcons QB listed among NFL’s ‘make-or-break players’ in 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

Over the last decade, the Atlanta Falcons<\/a> have learned just how tough it is to win in the NFL without a franchise quarterback. At the same time, Matt Ryan<\/a>‘s final two seasons in Atlanta serve as a reminder that it takes more than a great quarterback to be successful.<\/p>\n

The roster became thin late in Ryan’s career. Then, once the talent had been replenished, Atlanta struggled to find a quarterback to take advantage of it. This imbalance led the Falcons to double up on quarterbacks in the 2024 offseason, signing Kirk Cousins<\/a> and drafting Michael Penix<\/a> Jr. with the No. 8 overall pick.<\/p>\n

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The Cousins experiment was an expensive failure, but the jury is still out on Penix. After a promising rookie year, Penix suffered an ACL injury in the middle of the 2025 season. The former Washington Huskies QB is now at a crossroads in his NFL career.<\/p>\n

The Falcons signed Tua Tagovailoa<\/a> to replace Cousins, but all eyes will be on Penix and his progression under new head coach Kevin Stefanski. Can the third-year quarterback finally take that next step and lead Atlanta to the playoffs?<\/p>\n

NFL.com lists Penix among ‘make-or-break players’ in 2026<\/p>\n

NFL.com’s Nick Shook listed Penix among his 11 make-or-break players<\/a> in 2026<\/p>\n

“This situation is difficult because, no matter how hard he works, Penix might not have the full freedom to begin 2026 at full speed. When he does take the field, though, the pressure will be on. As a former top-10 pick whose brief success as a rookie largely pushed Kirk Cousins out of Atlanta, Penix will be expected to prove he’s continuing to develop, something he struggled to demonstrate in his second season before it ended abruptly with his third ACL tear. Hopefully, he’ll have most of the season to try to make it happen. Otherwise, questions regarding his future will only grow.” — Nick Shook, NFL.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Whether Penix wins the starting job or not, Atlanta was smart to sign Tagovailoa for the veteran minimum. This gives the team a veteran presence in case Penix hits a setback or fails to take that next step in his progression.<\/p>\n

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Last season, Penix showed some inconsistency and struggled with a few untimely penalties. However, he also made some incredible plays and finished with a 3-to-1 touchdown-to-interception ratio (nine touchdowns to three interceptions).<\/p>\n

Penix’s 88.5 passer rating was nearly 10 points higher than his rookie season. While it’s clear that nothing will be handed to the former top-10 pick this season, we aren’t ready to bet against him just yet.<\/p>\n

Watch as Penix and Tagovailoa battle it out at Falcons OTAs, as shared by the team’s YouTube channel below.<\/p>\n

This article originally appeared on Falcons Wire: Atlanta Falcons: Michael Penix facing ‘make-or-break’ season<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Over the last decade, the Atlanta Falcons have learned just how tough it is to win in the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":900214,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2074],"tags":[223,254,2554,224,7,7770,294,2859,18665,6,2661,3452],"class_list":["post-900213","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-atlanta-falcons","tag-atlanta","tag-atlanta-falcons","tag-atlantafalcons","tag-falcons","tag-football","tag-franchise-quarterback","tag-kirk-cousins","tag-matt-ryan","tag-michael-penix","tag-nfl","tag-the-falcons","tag-tua-tagovailoa"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116631180659647773","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/900213","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=900213"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/900213\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/900214"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=900213"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=900213"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=900213"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}