How will Stefanski handle the Falcons' QB room?
Mike Florio and Chris Simms react to Kevin Stefanski's recent comments about when he'll name a starting quarterback, questioning how the Falcons head coach will find his quarterback of the future.
Video Transcript
All right.
Here's Kevin Stefanski on the timeline for deciding on his week one quarterback.
I wonder if Matt Ryan is technically available- to jump onto the roster.
Here's what Stefanski had to say.
When would you wanna name a starter for by game week?
Whenever they tell me I have to.
Okay.
When that depth chart has to be put out.
Number- No, yeah, not Yeah, I'm not, honestly not trying to be coy.
Just, w- we'll focus on what's available to us, what information's available to us.
Obviously, this has been something that, you know, we need to work through as, as people come back off of injury.
I mean, Tua was injured to start camp, and then Mike's been injured, you know, and not doing the 11 on 11.
So you just, every day you're just trying to make decisions based on who's available to you.
The good news is, very, very happy with our guys and the progress they've all made.
I don't get the impression that this is football coach trying to keep week one opponent in the dark.
No.
This is football coach not having any damn idea who it would be.
When do I have to list them?
When, when are you gonna make the decision?
Whenever I have to put them on a list, not whenever I have to disclose it to the opponent.
Like, I don't know.
I do not know who it's gonna be, so I don't know when I'm gonna know, so I don't know when I'm gonna tell you who my starting quarterback is.
I Man.
I mean, not- not that he chose to leave Cleveland, but, eh, his- this, this, this aspect of his reality may have him missing Cleveland a little bit, because at least we had an inkling that there was someone on the roster who was healthy enough and competent enough to play right away.
Yeah.
Well, I, I think, like you talked about, it's a little bit of a l- the long play in this conversation, and Michael Penix is probably at some point, if he does get to play and start here, he's gonna have to prove to this new regime, Matt Ryan and everybody, that he's the guy going into the future.
But, I, I mean, l- l- you know, I know, we, we talk about this all the time.
Every coach wants to frame their team around the quarterback when we get to this time of the year right now.
So, and s- so does Kevin Stefanski.
So th- like, to, to me, like, you're pasta and meatballs.
Yeah, I'm right there with you.
It's just that, no, he, he's, it's not coy.
It's like, wait, is the lefty starting or the lefty starting, right?
I mean, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, one can throw the ball down the field, the other can't.
So that's how the offense is gonna change.
But you're not gonna catch some team by surprise and be like, "Oh, gosh, oh, the offense is totally gonna change here with one or the other."
I mean, they're gonna know, okay, Michael Penix is in there, the ball might go down the field more.
Tua, it might go shorter.
And we know that.
That's not gonna, like, break a defense's game plan.
And so there's nothing to be gained there at all.
I think your, your intuition is right.
The only thing that we can gain from the whole thing is that nobody has done well enough to be named the starter, and especially the guy that has been out there healthy, you know, for the most part, other than the first few days of camp there.
And when you consider the options they have available, you have to wonder, will they be looking elsewhere to add to the depth chart?
When we talked yesterday about Carson Wentz and JJ McCarthy, Carson Wentz wasn't on the Vikings roster until August 31.
It was gonna be JJ McCarthy, Brett Rypien, Sam Howell, and Max Brosmer.
We got to the cutdown day, which is looming, it's just three days away this year.
Howell got traded and Rypien got his walking papers, and they brought in Wentz.
And you gotta wonder, is Stefanski thinking, "Is there someone out there I can get?"
Do they trade for Dillon Gabriel, for example?
I've mentioned that as a possibility- Yeah in the past.
"Hey, we got, we got left-handed quarterbacks, let's bring in another one."
Do they, do they look elsewhere, right?
Is there someone else out there that Matt Ryan and Ian Cunningham and Kevin Stefanski would come together and want to bring in and get up to speed quickly because we just accept the fact that, as of right now, we don't have someone who's blowing us away.
Unless they would get crazy and just decide to ride with Jack Strand.
And I'm kind of rooting for that outcome.
Because I like a great story, and, you know, hey, this kid from Minnesota State, Moorhead, by way of Moorhead State, Kentucky.
Put him out there.
Put him out there.
Let's see what he can do, 'cause he looks like he can play.
He, he, it is a great story.
He certainly, you know, looks like a guy that's, you know, polished, has played some football.
He's had a lot of reps.
There's that.
But there might be a time during the year where they go to that, but I don't think they're gonna do that right now.
They gotta figure out, most importantly, before the year's over.
And that's where they're in a weird spot, because you go, wait, the team is good enough to kind of be a pain in the butt this year and maybe win the NFC South, but there's also a long play here at, like, yeah, it is Stefanski's first year.
And they are just getting it, the team right for what he wants as players and all of that.
And then it's a little bit of the long play because of the quarterback conversation that you've talked about so many times, and you're a believer that you neither want none of these guys will be the starter in 2027.
But they gotta figure that out for sure.
Because I'm sure there's some things they've seen from Michael Penix to go, "Oh, wow, that's a special throw," or, "Man, we can work with that."
But it's just gotta be consistent week in, week out, the right decision-making, all of that, and, and they gotta figure that out.
That's a big part of the future of the organization here.
And I don't wanna give Cooper Rush short shrift either.
He's got 42 appearances and 16 starts in his NFL career.
Yeah.
And he was 4-1 in 2022- Yeah in place of Dak Prescott.
So he has had his moments.
He had eight starts in '24 when Prescott had that serious, was it a hamstring injury off the bone or a groin injury?
Like, really bad tear.
It was hamstring.
Yep.
and he went 4-4 with the Cowboys, who weren't a powerhouse that year, so.
But he did go 0-2 last season in place of Lamar Jackson, and that kind of ended it quickly- It did for him in Baltimore.
It did.
But he can play.
Strand maybe can develop.
Penix isn't healthy.
And I, I- I th- I just, again, I got a, I got a plate of pasta and meatballs swirling around saying Tua may not be on the roster week one.
That, that would be crazy.
That would be, that would be bold, bold, crazy.
I, I got a, I, I think you got some rancid pasta and meatballs in your stomach, but we'll see.
That'd be- But- If you're right, I'll, I'll- But let's look at the available facts crazy.
Yeah.
Yeah.
We gotta take a break, but let's look at the available facts.
You got a guy who just got cleared for 11 on 11.
Just got cleared.
You got Tua, and they, they're not naming a starter?
No, I, listen, I, I hear you there.
How is it not Tua?
You, back to your point from earlier.
I, I know.
How in the hell is it not Tua?
And if it's not Tua at this point, why do you even want him on the team?
If this guy can't win the starting job against a guy who just got cleared to play 11 on 11, why is he on your team?
Yeah.
Well- That's, that's where it's- 'Cause he's played- This is an high level- I hear you.
No, I hear you thinking.
I hear you.
But it's just not working.
Yeah.
It's just not working.
It, it takes a minimal a- a minimal level of ability and performance to win the starting job under these circumstances, and he has not met that threshold.
If he hasn't met that threshold, then we're just gonna move on.
It's only 1.3 million, and it's probably not guaranteed.
And he gets his 54 million from the Dolphins.
They'd probably save their money if they move on from him before week one.
I, I don't disagree with a lot of the things you're saying there.
I just, I just, you know how coaches are.
You know?
They want that insurance policy, that guy.
I don't know if they'd feel comfortable about Jack Strand or Cooper Rush or the backup behind a guy that's raw and still developing and didn't get to practice the full o- you know, off-season.
That, that would be, that, that would be- I understand the only thing there.
Yeah.
Right.
But if they're looking at Tua, and they're just saying, "This guy can't play.
We can't put him on the field.
We can't in good conscience put him on the field," based upon what we've seen so far.
Yeah, yeah.
I, you know, that's So just put that JJ McCarthy not being in Minnesota, Tua not being in Atlanta, two pasta and meatballs bat signals to keep an eye-
