Sports

3 Offseason Questions Still Looming for the Atlanta Falcons

By Luke Easterling Athlon Sports

With all 32 NFL teams preparing for OTAs and mandatory minicamps, Athlon Sports is going under the hood to see what key questions remain for each team before training camps open in July. These questions might not get answered at minicamps, but any opportunity for new coaches to get familiar with their roster, rookies to get a feel for life in the NFL and free agents to get comfortable with a new team can be helpful.

Today's focus is the Atlanta Falcons, who will be breaking in a new head coach, and hoping to finally maximize the wealth of explosive playmakers they have on offense. They've gone eight straight years without a playoff berth, but in a wide-open NFC South, they have the talent to compete for a division title in 2026

If they want to make that happen, the Falcons will have to find answers to these three questions as they prepare for the upcoming season:

Who will win the quarterback battle (and will it matter)?

Another year, another quarterback conundrum for the Falcons, who once again will have a promising young battling it out with an experienced but banged-up veteran.

Michael Penix Jr. is returning from a season-ending knee injury, after having suffered two of them during his college career. The Falcons obviously still have high hopes for the top-10 pick from just two years ago, but durability was always the biggest question mark with Penix as a prospect, and those concerns will only grow as he works his way back from yet another significant injury.

Instead of Kirk Cousins this time, Penix will compete with Tua Tagovailoa, who signed with the Falcons after being released by the Miami Dolphins earlier this offseason. Tagovailoa has his own long history of injuries, but brings starting experience and flashes of high-end success from throughout his tenure in Miami.

Whoever stays healthy might win this battle by default, but the Falcons will need more than just an available body at the game's most important position if they want to make any headway in the NFC South this year.

Can Kevin Stefanski maximize all of these offensive weapons?

For the past few years, many around the NFL have had the same question: How can an offense with Bijan Robinson, Drake London and Kyle Pitts keep missing the playoffs every year?

Inconsistency at quarterback has obviously contributed to the Falcons' lack of overall success, but play-calling and overall offensive scheme approaches have also contributed to an underachieving unit that isn't lacking for high-end talent.

It will now be up to Stefanski, one of the more well-regarded offensive minds in the league, to get the most out of that talent. The quarterback questions notwithstanding, Stefanski will be expected to get the ball in Robinson's hands plenty (especially with Tyler Allgeier gone), and London should keep getting a ton of targets. Pitts is the puzzling pass-catcher who has yet to see his top-five talent maximized individually, but Stefanski could finally put him in position to use his rare physical traits to put up consistent production with schemed mismatches.

Throw in offseason additions like rookie third-round pick Zachariah Branch, and Stefanski will have no shortage of dangerous weapons at his disposal in Atlanta. But that's been the case for a few years now, and Falcons fans will want to see immediate results from their new head coach.

Will James Pearce Jr. get suspended?

The Falcons traded their first-round pick in this year's draft to jump up from the second round in 2025 to grab Pearce out of Tennessee, in hopes of pairing him up with fellow first-rounder Jalon Walker to give them a dynamic pass-rushing tandem for years to come.

Pearce was arrested in February on felony charges of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, fleeing police and resisting arrest, along with misdemeanor stalking. He has since entered a pre-trial intervention program that could result in all of his charges being dismissed:

Even if the charges are dismissed, Pearce could still face discipline from the NFL under the league' Personal Conduct Policy.

The Falcons made a significant investment in Pearce, and obviously have high expectations for his on-field impact. If he ends up missing time due to a suspension, it will leave a significant void in their defense.

Copyright 2026 Athlon Sports. All rights reserved.

This story was originally published May 20, 2026 at 4:01 AM.

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