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NFC Notes: Michael Penix Jr., Tua Tagovailoa, Bryce Young, Falcons, Panthers, Saints
Apr 2, 2026Jonathan ComeauxNFL Trade Rumors
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Falcons Kevin Stefanski approaches his first season as the Falcons’ head coach with competition at quarterback between Tua Tagovailoa and Michael Penix Jr. Stefanski said he is trying to take lessons he learned from his time with the Browns, where they recently split time at quarterback between Shedeur Sanders , Dillon Gabriel , and Joe Flacco . “Well, I think you take lessons from everything you’re doing, but certainly as it relates to competitions at every position, putting around a structure where you can allow guys to display what they can do,” Stefanski said, via Marc Raimondi of ESPN . “I think that’s important for us as coaches to put together a practice plan, a structure of how you handle the offseason to make sure that everybody is competing and then we can make those decisions.” Stefanski is being sure to keep the players’ best interests in mind and wants to avoid making players feel like outcasts. “I mean, these are human beings,” Stefanski said. “I want all of our guys to feel that we have their best interest in mind, because we do. I’ve said this many, many times: We play the greatest team game there is, but these are also individuals and as important as the collective is, I don’t want to ever ignore each person. And so, we’ll constantly be working with our players to understand our players, to earn their trust. And then the game and in between the white lines takes care of itself.” As for Penix’s recovery from a knee injury, Stefanski said that it is the quarterback’s primary focus, and they won’t rush him back. “His No. 1 job right now is to get healthy,” Stefanski said. “And he’s doing a great job at it. He is rehabbing like crazy. He’s in the building all the time. So, I’m excited for what that looks like when he’s healthy. But we’re not going to rush him. He’s not going to rush himself. We’ll make sure that we follow all the appropriate protocols, if you will, from a medical standpoint. And when he’s ready, he’ll be ready.” Panthers Panthers HC Dave Canales said that heading into the off-season, the team has shifted their focus to solidifying the quarterback position and is focused on how to build around QB Bryce Young . “It was similar at the combine,” Canales said, via The Athletic . “ And what I realized is that all of us, we can sense a commitment to Bryce being our quarterback. We’re changing things in our offense to fit Bryce, and we’re trying to bring players that will complement what Bryce does. It was something that Dan and I had talked about throughout really the last two years — Bryce’s ability to perform in critical situations and in high-stakes situations. And feeling our responsibility to build a team that puts itself in those high-stakes moments where he can perform and come through. And he’s shown that, whether it’s my ability to be aggressive, going for it on fourth down because of him or having different moments come alive late in games for him to be able to take us down on drives, find wins, whatever that looked like. There’s not a question of if, but how — how are we gonna build this forward knowing that Bryce is our quarterback ?” Canales added that the next step in Young’s development is being able to master the offense and being able to have more control pre-snap. “ A big part of it is being able to operate at the line of scrimmage — not in the huddle — when we want to, and he’s certainly capable of that, ” Canales explained. “ It’s not solely on him. It’s a group that’s pretty young. You have t…