Michael Penix Jr. Named Falcons Starting QB for Thursday Night Return vs. Packers

Michael Penix Jr. is officially back. The Atlanta Falcons named Penix their starting quarterback on Monday for Thursday Night Football against the Green Bay Packers, marking his first appearance of the 2026 season and his long-awaited return from a torn ACL. For a Falcons offense that has managed just 16 points through two games, the timing could not be more critical.

Penix suffered the injury in Week 11 last season, a partially torn ACL in his left knee sustained during a loss to the Carolina Panthers on Nov. 16, 2025. It was the third ACL tear of his career, following two in college, and it ended his first full season as a starter after Atlanta made him the No. 8 overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft. He underwent surgery shortly after the injury and has spent the better part of 10 months working back toward the field, at one point undergoing an additional procedure aimed at giving the knee more long-term stability.

A Winding Path Back to QB1

Penix’s return was hardly a straight line. Tua Tagovailoa was initially named the Falcons’ Week 1 starter over Penix, who was still working his way back into full participation. But Tagovailoa suffered an oblique injury during practice and was ruled out for the opener against Pittsburgh, thrusting veteran Cooper Rush into the lineup instead. Rush started Atlanta’s first two games, both losses, while Penix continued taking full practice reps but was held out as the team monitored his recovery. First-year head coach Kevin Stefanski finally cleared Penix on Monday, ending the guessing game and setting up his first start since that November night in Carolina.

The numbers Penix put up before the injury suggest a quarterback who was trending in the right direction. Across nine starts in 2025, he completed 60.1% of his passes for 1,982 yards with nine touchdowns against just three interceptions and an 88.5 passer rating. For his career, Penix has thrown for 2,757 yards and 12 touchdowns with a 59.6% completion rate over 12 starts, going 4-8 as Atlanta’s quarterback. Thursday’s game at Lambeau Field will be the 13th start of his NFL career.

From Heisman Runner-Up to First-Round Pick

Penix’s résumé long predates his stint in Atlanta. After transferring to Washington from Indiana, he became one of the most productive passers in college football, leading the FBS in passing yards in 2022 before an even more dominant follow-up campaign. In 2023, he threw for 4,903 yards and 36 touchdowns while guiding the Huskies to a 13-0 regular season and a berth in the College Football Playoff National Championship Game, finishing as the Heisman Trophy runner-up along the way. That production convinced Atlanta to take him eighth overall in 2024, even after the team had signed Kirk Cousins to a lucrative free-agent deal just months earlier.

Now Penix gets his stage back, and it comes against a Green Bay defense that oddsmakers view as a significant obstacle. The Packers have opened as roughly 6.5-to-7-point favorites with a moneyline in the range of -325 to -340, while Atlanta sits near +260 on the road. The total has hovered around 44.5 points, reflecting expectations of a defensive-minded, low-scoring affair at Lambeau Field. Bettors tracking the line movement can check the latest live NFL odds as kickoff approaches Thursday night.

What Comes Next for Atlanta

Beyond Thursday, the bigger question is what the Falcons’ quarterback room looks like going forward. Tagovailoa is expected to practice this week and could be active as Penix’s backup, giving Stefanski a healthier set of options than Atlanta has had all season. For a team still searching for its first win, getting its most talented and highest-drafted passer back on the field represents the clearest path toward stabilizing an offense that has sputtered out of the gate. Fans hoping to build a same-game parlay around the Falcons’ first snaps with Penix under center can find current promotions through the DraftKings promo code before puck-drop on Prime Video.

Whether Penix can shake off nearly a year of rust against a divisional-caliber defense remains to be seen, but for a Falcons team desperate for answers, his return alone qualifies as the biggest storyline of Week 3.