Alex Van Pelt: Falcons' QB battle won't begin until Michael Penix is cleared

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Michael Penix might . . . or might not be cleared for a return to team work in time for the Falcons' minicamp next week. Coach Kevin Stefanski is allowing only " we’ll see ." Until Penix is cleared for football activities, the Falcons don't have a quarterback competition. That was the word from quarterbacks coach Alex Van Pelt on Wednesday. "It's tough to have a competition when both guys aren't competing at the same level right now," Van Pelt said, via Marc Raimondi of ESPN. "So, it's hard, and it'll come. It'll happen at some point. Mike's done a great job of getting himself to where he is right now. Really impressive to take 7-on-7 reps and go out and compete. That's been great. But really, there's no competition until we can actually evaluate him equally." Tua Tagovailoa is taking all of the first-team snaps with Penix participating only in individual drills and 7-on-7 work as he works his way back from an ACL tear. Penix underwent surgery Nov. 25 after his knee injury against the Panthers. Van Pelt revealed that Penix is taking more 7-on-7 reps than Tagovailoa. "We split the reps as evenly as we can without Mike taking team reps," Van Pelt said. "It gets a little lopsided toward Tua." Penix had a scheduled day off from practice Monday, and Stefanski wouldn't provide any timetable or specifics on Penix's return. "He's hitting every milestone that he's supposed to hit," Stefanski said. "We're in constant communication with our medical team and Mike, and I think he's doing everything he can do and certainly when he may want to do more, we have to hold him back from certain things potentially. But not going to put any timeframes out there just yet, just going to focus on what's in front of us."