Falcons’ Raheem Morris breaks down Michael Penix Jr.’s limited snaps in the NFL preseason | News, scores, highlights, stats & rumors

Atlanta Falcons fans won’t get to see much of Michael Penix Jr. during the pre-season, as head coach Raheem Morris feels he’s seen enough during practice and his limited game efforts.

ESPN’s Marc Raimondi noted Monday that Morris said Penix, who did not play in Saturday’s game against the Baltimore Ravens, also will not play in Friday’s final preseason game against the Jacksonville Jaguars.

“You’ve seen how many reps Michael’s been able to get (in practice) without really taking away from our starters and Kirk (Cousins) and it’s been great,” Morris said. “And I don’t see that varying at all in his development plan, even going into the season. Because he’s able to get 100 percent of the reps against our defense. And he’s getting I don’t know how many reps against our starting defense right now.”

Penix also saw opportunities against a defense outside of Atlanta’s during the team’s joint practices with the Miami Dolphins prior to their preseason exhibition game.

There will also be a practice match between the teams during practice on Wednesday, giving Washington’s players a match-like experience.

“I’ll get a good look at him on Wednesday,” Morris said. “And (see) some of the issues and the things that we want to see if he can actually grasp it and retain it, from our standpoint, which he’s done a great job of getting better, throughout this process.”

Atlanta turned to Taylor Heinicke and undrafted rookie John Paddock for the game against Baltimore and will likely do the same against the Jaguars.

While the practice time is clearly valuable, it’s still fairly unusual to see a team’s projected backup quarterback play so few snaps during the preseason. Penix went 9 of 16 for 104 yards, zero touchdowns and zero interceptions in that game against the Dolphins and won’t play any meaningful snaps this season unless Cousins ​​suffers an injury or underperforms unusually.

The Falcons are confident the 24-year-old Penix will play a significant role in their future, otherwise they wouldn’t have selected him eighth overall in the 2024 NFL draft.

But as long as Cousins, who has a contract until the 2027 season, lives up to expectations, Penix will remain sidelined.

Maybe he will play more often next year during the pre-season.