Falcons say there’s no QB competition until Penix gets healthy

FLOWERY BRANCH — The Falcons are just over three months away from Week 1 and they don’t have a starting quarterback. They also, in their eyes, don’t have a quarterback competition.

Not yet, anyway.

“Really, it’s tough to have a competition when both guys aren’t competing at the same level right now,” Falcons quarterbacks coach Alex Van Pelt said Monday. “So, it’s hard, and it’ll come; it’ll happen at some point.

“But really, there is no competition until we can actually evaluate them equally.”

The Falcons have tried to split snaps as evenly as possible between Tua Tagovailoa and Michael Penix Jr. during OTAs, but Tagovailoa has received more reps by default.

Penix, who tore his ACL last November, has participated in individual throwing sessions and 7-on-7s. However, he still hasn’t been cleared for 11-on-11 team periods, and coach Kevin Stefanski is in wait-and-see mode for whether Penix will be a full-go during mandatory minicamp June 16-18.

The Falcons have given Penix more 7-on-7 reps to balance the snap count, but Van Pelt acknowledged it’s an advantage, or head start, for Tagovailoa.

Penix has “done a great job of getting himself to where he is right now,” said Van Pelt, who added it’s impressive Penix can take 7-on-7 snaps so early in his recovery process. The team gave Penix a scheduled rest day Monday, and Stefanski said Penix, 26, has met every milestone marker thus far.

And while the Falcons aren’t considering the battle between Tagovailoa and Penix to be a true competition quite yet, they’re still evaluating both within the contextual bubble of what both passers are able to do.

“It’s hard, but it’s the way we have to do it,” Van Pelt said. “We have to understand Mike’s knee is not 100% right now, and maybe at the top of his drop, he may not be able to put that thing in the ground and throw the ball like he might in two more months from now. So, just taking that all into consideration.”

Stefanski declined to say whether Penix is behind, or set back, since he can’t participate in 11-on-11 periods.

“You’re competing every single day just to do what you’re capable of doing for that day,” Stefanski said Monday. “Mike does have limitations based on his rehab, but he’s done a great job to date, and I’ve been very impressed with what he’s been able to do.”

Stefanski said accuracy is the trait he values most in a quarterback, but Van Pelt deemed completion rate a “baby piece” of the puzzle when deciding who starts. What if, he hypothesizes, one quarterback completes 78% of his passes but is only throwing check-downs, while the other is pushing the ball downfield?

For that reason, completion percentage isn’t an all-encompassing metric.

This time of year, when pads aren’t on and installing the scheme is critical, Stefanski and his staff want to see their signal-callers take command of the offense and have a firm grasp of the system.

“It’s how he’s calling the plays in the huddle — can he get in and out of the huddle? Can he operate the cans and the kills and everything we ask to do operationally? That’s as big a piece as anything is getting up and getting the ball snapped in the right play,” Van Pelt said. “And then the other pieces come with it.

“It’s just the whole picture of, can he operate? Can he get to the line of scrimmage? Is he getting us in and out of the right plays? Are we efficient at the line of scrimmage? Those are just some of the things you look into.”