Andy Dalton felt led to Falcons, where his veteran voice carries weight

FLOWERY BRANCH — Andy Dalton is in his third day as a Falcons quarterback, and he’s already become the brunt of Michael Penix Jr.’s humor.

“We swapped out a redhead for a redhead,” Penix said Wednesday. “It was funny. We joke about it.”

The Falcons released third-string quarterback Cooper Rush on Monday in correspondence to signing Dalton, a 16-year veteran who the Philadelphia Eagles released 10 days prior.

Hair color aside, Dalton also took Rush’s jersey number, wearing No. 13 at practice Wednesday. Dalton has a different locker assignment on the opposite side, but that’s perhaps the biggest difference between him and Rush, who filled the role as a veteran presence and the only player above 30 years old in the Falcons’ quarterback room.

“I feel bad for Cooper — I was with Cooper in Dallas, so I wish the best for him,” Dalton said Wednesday. “That’s the part that is tough about this business. But yeah, I guess they swapped one redhead for another.”

Dalton had several suitors in his mid-October free agency, but he chose the Falcons for a plethora of reasons.

One of the first messages Dalton received after leaving the Eagles came from Falcons quarterbacks coach Alex Van Pelt. The two worked together from 2018-19 with the Cincinnati Bengals and have kept in touch since. Sometimes, Van Pelt reaches out as a friend. Others, he’ll touch base as an interested suitor.

This connection fits the latter. Dalton listened to his former position coach and liked the pitch. He let his mind wander back several years, to the meeting rooms in Cincinnati, and decided he wanted more of it.

Van Pelt’s influence, Dalton said, “was big” in getting him to Atlanta.

“When we first started talking, just the thought of being back in his room — he does a great job,” Dalton said. “But just the way he runs the meeting and the relaxed atmosphere kind of opens it up for the whole room. Everybody gets involved, which is great. So, I felt like it’d be a lot of fun to get back and work with him again.”

There were other factors, too. The roster. The coaching staff. The situation. It was, all told, a “tough decision,” Dalton said. But he felt led to Atlanta.

“I spent a ton of time with my wife talking about what we wanted to do and spent a ton of time in prayer, trying to feel where the Lord was leading us, and we felt like this was going to be a good place,” Dalton said. “There’s a ton of potential here, a ton of just really good guys.

“And so, I felt like if I had a chance to come down here, kind of just bring some of my experience and try to help out in any way I can, I felt like it’d be a good opportunity.”

Dalton didn’t personally know Falcons coach Kevin Stefanski or offensive coordinator Tommy Rees. He has old teammates who played under Stefanski, and he loosely knew of Rees through tight end Tyler Eifert, who the Bengals drafted from Notre Dame, where Eifert caught passes from Rees for three seasons.

But he’s liked what he’s seen and heard from both thus far.

“After having a couple conversations with both of them, I’ve been really impressed,” Dalton said. “I think that’s kind of part of why I wanted to come down here, just the conversations that we’ve had. And I feel like this place is heading in the right direction.”

Rush developed a strong reputation as a beneficial voice in the Falcons’ quarterback room. Stefanski hasn’t specified whether Dalton will be the team’s backup or third-string, but his biggest role — as a respected veteran — seems clear.

Dalton has played in 180 games, including 169 starts, and he made the Pro Bowl three times in his first six years with the Bengals. But those days are gone. He’s played in only 14 games the past four seasons, each spent as a backup, and he was a veteran mentor for Panthers quarterback Bryce Young from 2023-25.

Now, Dalton holds a similar responsibility to be a sounding board for Penix, whom he’s watched from the opposing sideline the past two years.

“It’s the same thing I’ve done the last several years with Bryce,” Dalton said. “It’s building a relationship first, and then from there you can kind of build, let them know some of the things that I see, how I operate, how I do things. I’ve been impressed with him for the first couple days, being in meetings and everything.

“So, I feel good about just my role in the room and how I can help.”

Penix, too, has enjoyed the early stages of his relationship with Dalton.

“He’s cool,” Penix said. “He’s a great person, and obviously, he’s done a lot of great things in this league to be around for 16 years.”

The 26-year-old Penix remembers watching Dalton on TV. “I was young when he got into the league,” Penix said. Now, they share a quarterback room. And while Dalton’s experience certainly benefits Penix, it also helps him acclimate to the Falcons’ offense.

Everything is new, from his schedule to his teammates. Dalton joked the Falcons’ facility is “a little bit of a maze,” and he’s just trying to figure out where his next meeting takes place. Toss in learning a brand new offense, and it’d be easy for his head to spin.

But Dalton has played in similar offenses, and he’s no stranger to finding his footing in a new system. He estimates he’s learned 11 or 12 schemes in his NFL career and believes he’s in a good place learning Rees and Stefanski’s offense.

And while the timing — entering Week 7, with a third of the season already done — appears unideal, Dalton feels the opposite. It’s easier, he says, to get up to speed during the year than in the summer because the volume of information is dialed down.

“I’m like, ‘Don’t get me the Day 1 information of all the formations out there. Give me game plans to see which formations you’re actually using,’” Dalton said, “Because, I mean, initially, you’ve got every formation in the database. You’re going to spend a lot of energy trying to learn formations that maybe you use once throughout the year.

“So, that was my thing when I first got here. I was like, ‘Give me last week’s game plan. Let me study that.’ And then, there’ll be some carryover into what’s going on this week. But yeah, I mean, for the first couple days, I feel like I’ve got everything picked up.”