Michael Penix might . . . or might not be cleared for a return to team work in time for the Falcons’ minicamp next week. Coach Kevin Stefanski is allowing only “we’ll see.”
Until Penix is cleared for football activities, the Falcons don’t have a quarterback competition.
That was the word from quarterbacks coach Alex Van Pelt on Wednesday.
“It’s tough to have a competition when both guys aren’t competing at the same level right now,” Van Pelt said, via Marc Raimondi of ESPN. “So, it’s hard, and it’ll come. It’ll happen at some point. Mike’s done a great job of getting himself to where he is right now. Really impressive to take 7-on-7 reps and go out and compete. That’s been great. But really, there’s no competition until we can actually evaluate him equally.”
Tua Tagovailoa is taking all of the first-team snaps with Penix participating only in individual drills and 7-on-7 work as he works his way back from an ACL tear. Penix underwent surgery Nov. 25 after his knee injury against the Panthers.
Van Pelt revealed that Penix is taking more 7-on-7 reps than Tagovailoa.
“We split the reps as evenly as we can without Mike taking team reps,” Van Pelt said. “It gets a little lopsided toward Tua.”
Penix had a scheduled day off from practice Monday, and Stefanski wouldn’t provide any timetable or specifics on Penix’s return.
“He’s hitting every milestone that he’s supposed to hit,” Stefanski said. “We’re in constant communication with our medical team and Mike, and I think he’s doing everything he can do and certainly when he may want to do more, we have to hold him back from certain things potentially. But not going to put any timeframes out there just yet, just going to focus on what’s in front of us.”
Falcons Clips
Bijan Robinson is eligible for a contract extension.
The Falcons exercised the fifth-year option on his contract, which is projected to pay him $11.3 million in 2027. But both the Falcons and Robinson want a long-term deal.
Wide receiver Drake London, a first-round pick in 2022, got his extension signed on Monday. No one was happier for London than Robinson.
“Right when I saw it, I called him,” Robinson said. “I was so happy for him. He deserves it. He deserves everything that he gets. Obviously, he’s one of my favorite teammates, probably my top teammate of all time. That’s my best friend. That’s my brother.”
Dan Graziano of ESPN reports that the Falcons and Robinson’s representation are engaged in talks. The Dolphins recently signed De’Von Achane to a deal with a $16 million annual average, with San Francisco’s Christian McCaffrey ($19 million per season) and Philadelphia’s Saquon Barkley ($20.6 million per season) the only running backs ahead of Achane in annual average.
A reporter asked Robinson on Monday whether he is the next player on the Falcons to receive an extension.
“We’ll see, man,” Robinson said, via Daniel Flick of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “We’ll see, because I’m not the type of guy to talk about it. I let them handle all that stuff. So, we’ll see.”
Robinson, the eighth overall pick in 2023, has played every game he has been eligible over the past three seasons. He has 3,910 yards rushing with 25 touchdowns and 198 catches for 1,738 yards and nine touchdowns.
In 2025, he led the league with 2,298 yards from scrimmage in 2025.
Drake London’s contract extension with the Falcons became official on Monday.
The Falcons announced their agreement with the wideout on a four-year extension that keeps him tied to Atlanta through the 2030 season. The team did not reveal the financial terms, but it is reportedly a $141 million deal that includes $100 million in guaranteed money.
“Drake represents, certainly, all the things we believe in,” Falcons head coach Kevin Stefanski said on Monday, via the team’s website. “How you play this game, how you approach this game, how important this game is to him, how important his teammates are to him.”
London was a Falcons first-round pick in 2022 and the team exercised its fifth-year option on his contract before the 2025 season. London has 309 catches for 3,961 yards and 22 touchdowns in 62 career games.
The Falcons will wrap up their offseason program with a mandatory minicamp next week and quarterback Michael Penix’s level of participation will remain up in the air until they’re closer to the start of the three-day event.
Head coach Kevin Stefanski told reporters on Monday that “we’ll see” if Penix is cleared for 11-on-11 work before the offseason workouts come to an end. Penix is returning from last season’s torn ACL and has progressed to 7-on-7 drills at OTAs.
Stefanski also said that Penix is taking a scheduled rest day on Monday, but that he has hit every milestone in his rehab schedule to this point in the offseason.
Tua Tagovailoa is the other quarterback option for the Falcons and training camp looks like it will be the time for the team to make a decision whether Penix is back to a full workload next week or not.
Falcons third-round pick Zachariah Branch no longer faces criminal charges related to an April arrest in Athens, Georgia.
Branch was arrested and faced two misdemeanors for not following a police officer’s commands, but the wide receiver’s attorney told ESPN that prosecutors did not find sufficient evidence to sustain the charges.
“Zachariah cooperated fully with law enforcement and did not commit a crime on the night of his arrest and never should have been arrested,” Kim Stephens said. “We are glad this matter is over and that Mr. Branch’s excellent reputation and good name [are] restored.”
Branch had 81 catches for 811 yards and six touchdowns after transferring to Georgia from USC last year.
The Falcons have agreed to terms with wide receiver Drake London on a long-term deal.
According to multiple reports, London will sign a four-year, $141 million extension worth up to $150 million. It includes $100 million guaranteed.
It makes London the third-highest paid receiver in the league, with the highest average per year in team history.
The Falcons had exercised the fifth-year option on London’s contract, worth $16.817 million for 2026.
London, 25, entered the NFL as the eighth overall pick in 2022.
He topped 1,000 yards and 100 catches for the first time in 2024, ranking fourth in the league in receiving yards (1,271) and tied for ninth in receptions (100) and touchdown catches (nine). London dealt with a PCL sprain in his knee in 2025, playing 12 games and totaling 68 receptions for 919 yads and seven touchdowns.
He has 309 receptions for 3,961 yards and 22 touchdowns in his four seasons.
The Colts added another quarterback to the roster on Monday.
They announced the signing of Easton Stick and he will join Daniel Jones, Anthony Richardson, and Riley Leonard on the depth chart in Indianapolis. Stick spent last season with the Falcons and did not play in any regular season games. He started four games for the Chargers in 2023 and spent five years as a backup in Los Angeles overall.
Stick will take the place of Seth Henigan, who was waived in a corresponding move.
The Colts also signed center Josh Kreutz and cornerback Jai’Onte’ McMillan. Both players went undrafted earlier this year.
Cornerback Wyett Ekeler and guard LaDarius Henderson were waived to round out all of the day’s moves.
The Falcons’ roster overseen by President of Football Matt Ryan this year is very different from the roster of teammates Ryan had when he last played for the Falcons, in 2021. But tight end Kyle Pitts remains with the team, and Pitts says Ryan is the same kind of leader now that he was then.
“He still talks the same,” Pitts said of Ryan. “He’s just in a different role. He’s still the same person. I feel like he’s wrapping me tighter under his wing, from a different perspective as a front office guy now. But he just has a different role. He’s still leading the team in some sort of way, but just not physically.”
Ryan, who was the Falcons’ starting quarterback from 2008 to 2021, was throwing passes to Pitts on the practice field during the Falcons’ recent Organized Team Activities. Pitts enjoyed that.
“It’s a nostalgic moment,” Pitts said. “It’s great having Matt out here and, you know, he can still spin it like he can still play. So, it’s it’s pretty cool to see.”
Ryan left the Falcons after Pitts’ rookie season, but Pitts said they’ve talked often over the last few years.
“I know him more personally rather than some of these younger guys and rookies,” Pitts said. “I got a chance to play with him. But it’s it’s cool to see and and have him around the building.”
They have to install playing surfaces that meet exacting standards. They have to change the names of the facilities. They have to shut down all other business (such as major concerts) for the duration of the World Cup.
Given the hoops through which the 11 NFL stadiums will have to jump in order to placate FIFA, it’s fair to ask whether it’s worth it.
Ben Volin of the Boston Globe recently took a look at that question. Said an NFL official from a team that won’t be hosting any of the World Cup games, “I know more than a few teams weren’t disappointed to lose the bid.”
That could be sour grapes, because those who won the right to host the matches are crowing about it.
“Can’t sleep,” Cowboys owner and G.M. Jerry Jones said recently, per Volin. “This is a great chance to associate with the worldwide love with soccer, and lets us put a little notch on our belt and share it with what soccer’s about, too. They’ll never be able to take away that we held those games in that stadium.”
Cowboys executive Stephen Jones echoed the sentiment: “We’ll be shut down all summer. But it’s worth it. I mean, this is about brand and, you know, being a part of something special.”
The Joneses wanted to host the matches badly enough to give up their suite for the matches.
“I think I’ve got to go someplace else, but that was a part of it,” Jerry Jones said. “We did a lot of things to make this work.”
The Cowboys, Patriots, Falcons, Texans, Chargers/Rams, Giants/Jets, Chiefs, Seahawks, 49ers, Dolphins, and Eagles will be hosting World Cup games in their stadiums.
The total revenue is projected, per Volin, to be roughly $11 billion. FIFA will pay rent for the stadiums, while keeping the revenue from sponsorships, tickets, suites, merchandise, concessions, and parking.
So how much will the teams get for hosting the World Cup? Per Volin, the terms “have been kept under wraps.”
Given that folks like Jones are not known for doing bad deals, they’ll surely be making more money to host the World Cup matches than they would have made in a normal summer.
Still, it’s a headache. Extra work, extra expenses, extra hassles.
Not to mention the P.R. bruise that comes from the perception/reality that NFL owners who are giving FIFA the surfaces it demands while stubbornly refusing to do the same for pro football players.
The hiring of Seahawks assistant G.M. Nolan Teasley as the Vikings’ new G.M. will carry a specific benefit for his former team.
Per the league, Teasley qualifies as a diverse candidate under the NFL provision that gives the former team of a newly-hired G.M. or head coach a pair of third-round compensatory draft picks.
The only question is whether Teasley will be Minnesota’s “primary football executive.” That requirement prevented the Bears from receiving the compensatory draft picks when assistant General Manager Ian Cunningham was hired to be the Falcons G.M. The league decided that president of football Matt Ryan is the “primary football executive” in Atlanta.
The Bears appealed the decision to the league, and Bears fans continue to be mystified by the outcome — especially since Ryan has made it clear that Cunningham is a General Manager “in every facet of the word.”
Minnesota has no similar position to Ryan’s job with the Falcons. The only alternative to Teasley would be coach Kevin O’Connell. But there has been no indication that, moving forward, O’Connell will emerge as the top football executive for the Vikings, with full control over the roster and the draft.
The NFL’s full collection of diversity of initiatives have recently come under attack by Florida’s attorney general. The Seahawks getting two extra third-round draft picks undoubtedly will spark a reaction from those who, in the current climate, attack efforts aimed at enhancing diversity, equity, and inclusion.
