Atlanta Falcons starting quarterback Michael Penix Jr. will have a season-ending surgery performed on his left knee, the team announced earlier today. As a result, backup quarterback Kirk Cousins has been named Atlanta's starter for the Week 12 game against the New Orleans Saints.
"After further medical evaluation, it has been determined Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Penix Jr. will undergo season-ending surgery for a partially torn ACL," reads a November 19th statement from the team.
After Penix suffered a knee injury in Week 11 against the Carolina Panthers, the team placed Penix on the short-term injured reserve on Monday, meaning he would miss a minimum of four games. However, Penix received a second opinion from a medical professional confirming that he would need to undergo season-ending surgery to repair the partially torn ACL.
Penix had started nine of the Falcons' ten games this season. During the 2025-26 campaign, he completed 60.1% of his passes for 1,982 yards, nine passing touchdowns, three interceptions, and a passer rating of 88.5.
A troubling diagnosis for the Falcons
This is an incredibly worrisome development in the young career of an NFL quarterback. Penix wasn't lighting the world on fire statistically, but he had shown noticeable improvement in almost all meaningful statistical categories, including passing yards per game, QBR, and passer rating. Even though the Falcons weren't competing for a playoff spot, a long-term injury like this will undoubtedly hinder Penix's development.
Young quarterbacks need reps to get better. While Atlanta might not have been competitive the rest of this season, these games would have provided invaluable experience for a quarterback who has only started 12 games in the first two years of his NFL career. Penix could've used these games to further identify his strengths and weaknesses and determine what parts of his play need the most work this coming off-season. Instead, he'll be battling back and going through months of intense rehab just to return to normal.
There is a bigger issue here that we also need to mention. Michael Penix Jr. has a troubling history of devastating knee injuries. He has suffered some form of a torn ACL three times over the last seven years. In October 2018, he suffered a torn ACL in his right knee. Two years later, in November 2020, he tore the same ACL again. Now, he has partially torn his OTHER ACL. And, on top of all of that, he suffered two different season-ending shoulder injuries in college while playing for the University of Washington. In a league where the best ability is availability, Michael Penix Jr. has had trouble staying on the football field.
Considering where he was drafted and the flashes that he has shown at times, the Atlanta Falcons are not going to give up on Michael Penix Jr. With that being said, the troubling history of injuries makes it seem like Penix is literally and figuratively on his last legs in the ATL. If he suffers another long-term injury while still on his rookie contract, which is set to expire as early as 2028, then the Falcons will probably begin searching for another franchise quarterback.
