Michael Penix Jr. has high hopes ahead of his first full season as the Atlanta Falcons’ starting quarterback.

How high? Well, consider what Penix had to say on Thursday.

“Potential? We should be the best in the league,” the 25-year-old said. “You know, with the guys we got around us. You know we got a great offensive line as well … we should be unstoppable.”

Penix indeed has a number of playmakers around him, notably fellow first-round picks Bijan Robinson, Drake London and Kyle Pitts. The second-year quarterback also fared well in his three starts last season, helping the Falcons total 96 points from Weeks 16-18.

Penix, the eighth overall pick of the 2024 NFL Draft, played in five games in his rookie season, completing 61 of 105 passes (58.1 percent) for 775 yards, three touchdowns and three interceptions.

Penix isn’t alone in his sky-high optimism about the Atlanta offense.

Right guard Chris Lindstrom echoed Penix’s notion that the team “can be the best offense,” while right tackle Kaleb McGary admitted that while being “horribly biased” in saying that he thought “we’re the best ever.”

Falcons coach Raheem Morris isn’t ready to make any such declarations, however.

“I like to just buy into the clean slate and let our guys go out there and kind of define it,” Morris said. “It’s kind of like when we talk about identity all the time. Those things got to be defined daily. I can tell you what I want it to be, but that may not necessarily be it when you turn on the tape. You want to make sure it is when you turn on the tape.

“I just look at that, like with the team, I’m really optimistic about the guys, really fired up how they came back, really fired up about what they looked like up until this point, and now we got to go out there and do it.”

–Field Level Media