Everybody is avoiding the Atlanta quarterback situation like the plague. Tua Tagovailoa on a one-year, roughly $1.2 million deal after Miami let him walk, and Michael Penix Jr. rehabbing a partially torn ACL he hasn’t been cleared to play with yet. PFF has Tua 28th over recent seasons, Penix down in the honorable-mention pile next to Shedeur Sanders and J.J. McCarthy. Not exactly a room that makes you want to draft the whole offense. And yet the way the depth chart shakes out, that same murky situation is what’s making a couple of Falcons cheaper than they should be.
Start with Tua, because he’s the one nobody wants and the one I’d happily grab in the right format. He’s currently listed first on the depth chart and has the edge to open Week 1 while Penix heals, which means for the price of a QB31 you might be buying a full-time NFL starter throwing to a genuinely good group. Bijan Robinson out of the backfield, Drake London on the outside, Kyle Pitts down the seam. That’s a real supporting cast. I’m not going to sell you a rushing floor he doesn’t have, and if Penix gets healthy and plays well, Tua could be back to the bench by Halloween. But in superflex and best ball, a matchup-based QB2 you paid nothing for is gold. Get him around the QB30-32 range and stream him in the soft weeks. Just don’t roster him in a 1-QB league expecting anything.
Penix is the flip side of that same coin, and he’s the one I’d stash in dynasty superflex. The reason he’s sitting second isn’t a talent verdict, it’s a calendar problem. This is the guy the franchise drafted eighth overall two years ago. Assuming the knee comes back at some point this season he’s got the arm and the pedigree to take the job back this year. There has been surprisingly little news about his condition and whether he’s targetting week 2 or week 12. A realistic case here has him healthy by midseason, seizing the role, and finishing with genuine value throwing to London and Pitts down the stretch. That’s an asset that appreciates. In redraft I’d leave him on waivers until he’s actually cleared and named the starter. As a cheap best-ball flyer or a dynasty-superflex buy in the QB34 tier, I’m interested.
Which brings us to the guy who actually matters no matter who’s under center. Drake London just signed his four-year extension worth up to $150 million, so this isn’t a contract-year gamble anymore, it’s a franchise cornerstone locked in through 2030. The knock is obvious: an unsettled QB room supposedly caps the whole passing game’s ceiling. I keep hearing it and I keep shrugging, because London has already produced through shaky quarterbacking, and the target tree behind him is thin enough that volume finds him regardless. Look at what he did before the hamstring shut him down last year, three touchdowns against New England in Week 9 alone during a run of 100-yard games. Either of these pocket passers feeds a possession-heavy alpha. He’s WR8 officially but i’m comfortable taking him as early as WR 6. Sometimes a reach is worth it to get your guys, they won’t be there again next round.
Pitts is an interesting one this year. Both quarterbacks work the middle of the field, and behind London the competition is soft, which leaves Pitts as a clear second receiving read in an offense that doesn’t have many mouths to feed down the field. He’ll be boom-or-bust and touchdown-dependent on the quiet weeks, sure. But at TE8 you aren’t paying much for a guy with a decent ceiling.