The Punchline Is Running the Offense

I said neither of your quarterbacks would finish the season. I didn't expect them to not start training camp.

Jack Strand. Minnesota State Moorhead. Division II. The Falcons are paying him $262,500 guaranteed — less than a luxury car in the Mercedes-Benz Stadium parking lot — and he is the only quarterback taking full 11-on-11 reps with Drake London and Kyle Pitts.

Tua missed Day 1 entirely. Back tightness. Day 2 he managed individual drills and watched from the sideline. Penix is four weeks from clearance after his third ACL reconstruction. Cooper Rush got signed the morning of camp because they released the last backup. And Matt Ryan — the 2016 MVP, now President of Football — came out of the executive suite to throw passes to receivers because they literally ran out of arms.

Stefanski: "You cannot predict what's coming."

No kidding.

A 22-year-old from Bloomer, Wisconsin, with 13,161 D-II career yards and a $262K guarantee is running the first-team offense. The preseason opener against Denver is August 14. Two weeks. Somebody has to start that game.

Here's the part nobody wants to say out loud: Strand isn't embarrassing himself. Jake Matthews says the huddle has been smooth. Penix called his improvement "awesome to see." When your D-II UDFA draws praise from the starters and your franchise quarterbacks are watching from the sideline, the punchline starts sounding like a plan.

Four days ago I was 65% on neither QB finishing the season. The season hasn't started and neither can practice.