Who Should I Start? Brock Purdy or Michael Penix Jr.

Wednesday, January 7, 5:11 PM

San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy was shut down in the regular-season finale by the Seattle Seahawks, throwing for a season-low 127 yards with one interception and his only game this season without a touchdown. Purdy suffered a stinger on the final play of the game, but he is not expected to miss any practice time and will be good to go for Sunday's Wild-Card game against the Philadelphia Eagles. The 26-year-old signal-caller had another strong season overall despite playing in only nine games due to an early-season turf-toe injury. He'll be in line for another challenging matchup against a stout Eagles defensive unit that ranks sixth in both dropback-success rate (40.7%) and dropback EPA (-0.109) over the final five weeks of the season.

Wednesday, November 26, 1:06 PM

Atlanta Falcons head coach Raheem Morris said on Wednesday that quarterback Michael Penix Jr. (knee) had successful surgery on his knee on Tuesday, according to D. Orlando Ledbetter of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Penix had full reconstructive surgery to fix a partially torn ACL in his left knee, which will keep him out for the rest of this season and possibly for the start of the 2026 season next fall. The 25-year-old second-year signal-caller is facing a nine-month recovery, which will force Atlanta to rethink its long-term plan at the QB position this offseason. This is Penix's third ACL reconstruction in his career after he had two knee surgeries in college. Kirk Cousins will start the rest of the year under center for the Falcons, but depending on how he finishes the season, the Falcons could opt out of the final two seasons of his four-year deal.