The Falcons hit the practice fields again for organized team activities (OTAs) on Wednesday, and there was plenty worth remarking on. Here’s a roundup of the most noteworthy (and just fun) items from reporters on the ground at Flowery Branch.
Michael Penix Jr. still throwing, not yet involved in full-team drills
Per team reporter and former Falcoholic writer Will McFadden, Penix is doing individual drills and 7-on-7 work and still looking good doing so, but isn’t ready for the full-team work just yet. The team hasn’t provided a timeline for when that might be, so we may be looking at training camp or we may be talking about early June. We’ll see.
In the interim, Tua Tagovailoa seems to be impressing coaches, per the AJC’s Daniel Flick. He’s delivering on the accuracy that Kevin Stefanski and company clearly prize. It’s way too early to say anything about this competition with any confidence, but Tua’s doing what he needs to do in shorts to give himself a shot at beating out Penix for the starting job. It’s about keeping that level of performance going throughout the summer.
Quite a few players sat out drills today
Mike Jerrell ran with the starters because Jawaan Taylor, Storm Norton, and rookie undrafted free agent Riley Mahlman were all watching without helmets, per The Athletic’s Josh Kendall. Christian Harris worked as a starter next to Divine Deablo a lot, too, with both rookie Kendal Daniels and JD Bertrand sitting out practice with injuries. And finally, rookie undrafted free agent James Brockermeyer took all the first team snaps with Ryan Neuzil apparently out.
It would be reckless to read too much into any of this, since injuries are driving some of these decisions, but Harris is legitimately going to be in the mix for a starting job and both Jerrell and Brockermeyer are hoping to grab roster spots. An early good impression and the opportunity to deliver it never hurt.
Worth noting, too, that Daniels seems to be making progress and will hopefully be able to compete soon.
Expect the screen game to be a focus
The Falcons were working on screens plenty on Wednesday, per Joe Patrick, which makes a lot of sense when you consider it’s something Kevin Stefanski clearly spends plenty of time thinking about. The 2025 Browns had the 11th-highest screen usage rate in the league, per StatRankings, and the team just invested a third round pick in the most productive screen pass receiver in college football last year.
If you trust your blockers and the precision of your offense, having explosive athletes like Zachariah Branch, Kyle Pitts, and Bijan Robinson involved in the screen game makes a ton of sense. While I don’t think it’s going to be used at an outlandish pace in Atlanta this season, screen passes are clearly something the Falcons want to be good at, and something they drafted Branch to help them utilize effectively.
Matt Ryan’s in the mix for QB3
Someone is going to read this in an AI summary on Google and think it’s real, aren’t they?
We’re still figuring out what Matt Ryan’s role in the organization will mean for the Falcons in 2026 and beyond, in terms of what he’ll ultimately be responsible for and whether he can usher in a new era of success, but we do know he’s not going to be sitting in a corner office away from what’s happening on the practice field. He might even chuck a few bombs along the way.
