Michael Penix Jr. Done for Season with Yet Another Knee Repair

What They're Saying

HC Raheem Morris: "Hurting for the young man, especially with how well he was playing at the beginning of that football game, really finding his groove. I liked his week of preparation. ... I like how he took a lot of ownership on it last week and really was ready to have a bounce-back week. It's heartbreaking for him to go out and get hurt."

NFL Network's Ian Rapoport: "He's sought the opinion of experts, including from Dr. Neal ElAttrache. Penix has an ACL sprain, but full reconstruction is needed."

2025 Fantasy Football Impact

Penix hasn't been terrific this year, with his Week 10 outing in the OT loss to the Colts possibly his worst. That's the game Morris was referring to him trying to bounce back from, after Penix completed just 43% of his throws for 177 yards in Berlin.

The QB completed a season-best 81% of his passes at 10.9 yards per pass attempt before leaving the game against Carolina. Even without a TD, his 112.2 passer rating was pacing for the second-best of Penix's season.

The point here, though, is that Atlanta's offense at least retained some hope and upside with Penix behind center. Cousins' play hasn't earned either.

The veteran went from playing poorly enough to get benched late in 2024 to performing even worse so far in limited 2025 duty -- and without the excuses of learning a new offense or coming off an Achilles' tear.

Cousins' ascension lowers the ceiling for the passing game and offense on whole. We're lowering projections for basically all Falcons going forward, until/unless Cousins proves we should change that.

Meetings with the Saints and Jets the next two games should help reveal whether there is any meaningful upside.

Dynasty Impact

Penix now has 12 games of merely OK (and sometimes poor) play as an NFL starter. He also has yet another knee surgery coming. (More on that in a minute.)

You might think this is a time to buy low on last year's No. 8 overall pick, and you can do so if you want. But the price should be very low, or the move doesn't seem worth it.

Other Winners & Losers

Drake London figures to be the biggest loser once he's healthy, if only because he has carried easily the most value among Falcons pass-catchers this season.

Darnell Mooney gets a boost from London's knee injury, and he did produce well with Cousins behind center last year. But the wideout's more of a stash and desperation starter than a guy to get excited about.

We'll see about the impact on the backfield. Atlanta sits just 27th in scoring, so Cousins isn't likely to turn their TD output. But the team ranks a much better 16th in total yards and 14th in yards per play.

Cousins has edged Penix 7.4 to 7.2 in yards per pass attempt over the past two seasons, but Penix holds the 12.1 to 11.2 edge in yards per completion. That highlights Cousins' stronger completion rates but Penix's deeper work.

Altogether, Cousins looks more likely to harm the yardage efficiency than help it, especially with less mobility than Penix displayed this year.

Perhaps the Falcons lean a bit more into their run game with Cousins. But they already rank just 19th in neutral pass rate, according to RBSDM.com. And this 3-7 squad doesn't appear likely to play with many leads the rest of the way.

Injury History: New Developments & Historical Context

The good news on this ACL injury: It's not the knee in which Penix twice tore the ACL in college. That occurred on his right side.

However, the aforementioned full reconstruction comes with "9 months of recovery, at least," according to Rapoport.

Injury Impact: Estimated Return Timeline & Performance Upon Return

That recovery timeline not only butts up against the start of the 2026 season. It almost certainly means Penix will not be on the field for basically all of his second full NFL offseason.

Beyond that, we'll now be looking at a QB with three total ACL reconstructions affecting both knees -- plus a pair of season-ending shoulder injuries in college.

Penix admitted during college that the spate of injuries overwhelmed him. He then went on to post two monster seasons at Washington after that.

So maybe the mental side will be fine once he's ready to play. Or maybe Penix runs into times where he has trouble trusting his body.

I'll be rooting for him to overcome the issues and play on. But fantasy managers have to consider the whole picture in evaluating his future and value across fantasy formats.