Kalen DeBoer once said Michael Penix Jr. is the greatest leader he ever coached. Together, they took Washington to the College Football Playoff national championship game. While DeBoer now leads Alabama in the SEC, Penix has the potential to be the franchise quarterback the Atlanta Falcons have been hoping for in the post-Matt Ryan era. Now entering year two, he has already become a favorite teammate.
During a very heated series of joint practices with the Tennessee Titans in the lead-up to their second preseason game of the summer on Friday night, Penix apparently got into it with a yapping Titans defense. He connected on a deep ball to wide receiver Ray-Ray McCloud III. Pleasantries were exchanged and things may have boiled over. Yes, Penix got his Falcons into another preseason fight.
D. Orlando Ledbetter of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution later asked Penix about it after practice.
"I really don't know, if I'm being honest. Competitive. Threw a deep pass. They had a lot of words throughout practice, so I gave them my words and it just went a little bit too far. I don't know. I was somebody else."
Ledbetter mentioned that it came after a big-time pass to McCloud, and Penix then offered this.
"Yeah, it was like I said. I threw a deep ball and man, celebrating, celebrating. Somebody didn't like it, and then it just went off from there. I really do not remember too much after that, to be honest."
In a way, Ledbetter relayed that it was kind of a "brotherhood"-type of moment for this rising team.
"Yeah, I'm glad they did because obviously, that's not something we want to be doing in practice. We want to get our reps in and get that good work in. It went how it went, but to see the team have my back and they were there. You mentioned they protect me, a lot of guys asking me if I was good, it was good to know those guys have my back as well."
As you can see by Penix's face at the podium in Flowery Branch, he was brimming with confidence.
#Falcons QB Michael Penix on the fight with the #Titans that started after a TD pass to Ray-Ray McCloud. pic.twitter.com/VPYqumAFu1
— D. Orlando Ledbetter (@DOrlandoAJC) August 13, 2025
Maria Martin of 11 Alive News shared this bit from a fellow team leader in inside linebacker Kaden Elliss.
If you think other players didn’t pay attention to Mike Penix in that fight today (in a good way) you’re wrong.
— Maria Martin (@Ria_Martin) August 13, 2025
Kaden Elliss heard a teammate say “our QB different”
They were all juiced up that he showed a different edge competitively today.
For better or worse, I know that Kirk Cousins was never going to start anything with any opponent.
Michael Penix Jr. provides leadership Kirk Cousins would never dream of
Admittedly, Penix has a long way to go before he eclipses Cousins in the pantheon of great NFL quarterbacks. Love him or hate him, Cousins has had a great career thus far, with varying levels of success in Washington, Minnesota and very briefly in Atlanta last season. However, he never really felt like a foxhole guy. Cousins is relatable and likable, but not exactly the strongest of alpha males.
Penix and the Falcons may have had their way with the lowly Titans in joint practices this week, but we are not going to see really anyone of note playing in Friday night's preseason game for the Dirty Birds. Penix has already been ruled out of the game, and so too probably will Cousins. A shortened first preseason game vs. Detroit may result in the Falcons wanting to see even more out of their reserves.
Overall, you want a quarterback who commands the respect of his entire team. For as great as Ryan was in Atlanta, there were moments where his teammates did not always help him off the turf after getting hit repeatedly in the backfield. Penix has more physical gifts than Ryan, but he needs to become as accurate and as mentally tough as Matty Ice was in his prime. I feel we are all rooting for it.
The quickest and best way for Penix to gain the respect of the league is by winning games for Atlanta.