There have been some great seasons had by quarterbacks going into their second year of their careers, but a lot of those got to start for the entirety of their rookie year as well. Michael Penix's sutuation is a little bit different. After only starting three games last season this is technically Penix's second season, but as far as playing time goes this is almost an extension of his rookie year.
The Falcons’ eighth overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft isn’t the only quarterback who has been in this situation before though. The Morning Shift talked about some quarterbacks that started not all, but some games in their rookie year, then became the full-time starter in Year 2 and had a good season.
Mike Johnson pointed to Jared Goff who started seven games his rookie year and went 0-7 under Jeff Fisher. Goff had a passer rating of 63.6 with 1,089 yards, five touchdowns and seven interceptions in seven games in 2016.
Now, the good news is that Penix looked a lot better than that in the three games he started last season for Atlanta, but after Fisher was fired by the Rams and Sean McVay took over in 2017 Jared flourished in his sophomore season passing for 3,804 yards, with 28 touchdown passes, only throwing seven interceptions in 15 games with a passer rating of 100.5. Goff was also selected to play in his first Pro Bowl.
The situation that Goff was in and the situation that Penix is in are different from the aspect of Raheem Morris and Zac Robinson aren’t going anywhere while Goff got a new head coach and had to learn a new offense in his second season. That said, the situations are very much comparable from the aspect of both guys got to sit for a little bit in their rookie season, play for a little bit in their rookie season, and now are the franchise guys going into their second year. Mike thinks that’s where the comparison starts to come together.
“Like if we got that out of Michael Penix would you not be okay with 3,800 passing yards, and a touchdown to interception ratio of 28-to-7 in Year 2, because we don’t look at Jared Goff as being like a game-changer, right? We look at him as a guy who can manage the system he is playing within," Johnson said. "I think that when you talk about apples to apples in that realm that Jared Goff actually fits this comparison pretty good because he ended flourishing in his second year when he was able to kind of sit down for a little bit as a rookie.”
To Mike’s point, if Penix throws for 3,804 yards, with 28 touchdown passes, and only seven interceptions with a passer rating of 100.5 that would be great for the Falcons and probably mean Atlanta had a pretty successful season.
What Goff had in Los Angeles that year is also pretty comparable to what Penix has right now in Atlanta. Goff had Todd Gurley and a really good offensive line. Penix has Bijan Robinson and a really good offensive line. Goff had three solid receivers in Cooper Kupp, Robert Woods, and Sammy Watkins, and Penix has three solid receivers in Drake London, Darnell Mooney, and Ray-Ray McCloud.
The teams are built similarly, the quarterbacks are gonna be asked to do the same type of things in Year 2, and Robinson did work directly under McVay. So, to think Penix can have a Pro Bowl-type of season in his sophomore year isn’t far fetched at all.