The Atlanta Falcons are set to play their first preseason game of the year on Friday night as they host Sean Payton and the Denver Broncos at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
This is normally the one time a year when most NFL fans (no, Jets fans don't count) are actually excited for the season before harsh reality sets in come Week 1.
These Falcons haven't been to the playoffs in nine years, though - and expectations are understandably low. According to a new batch of preseason power rankings by Nick Shook at NFL.com, Atlanta is currently the worst team in the NFC South and just the 25th best in the league overall.
"This ranking illustrates my trepidation regarding Atlanta. It's a team that has the talent to land higher than this, but also has already lost Jalon Walker to a season-ending injury and still doesn't have much clarity regarding its outlook under center. Michael Penix Jr. is still returning from his latest ACL repair, Tua Tagovailoa began camp with back issues, and the situation became so dire that Atlanta raced to the open market to bring in Cooper Rush in late July. I like that the Falcons have options at QB, but I don't like the fact that neither option seems very viable at this stage..."
All fair criticism, especially the devastating blow that losing Walker will be for Jeff Ulbrich's defense.
That said, we finally got some good news on the quarterback front this week. Both Tua Tagovailoaand Michael Penix have impressed coaches and observers over the last few days of training camp - our first positive ink for these two at the same time since Tua was signed back in March.
That said, Penix still hasn't been cleared for 11-on-11 drills - so for now Tagovailoa remains in the driver's seat by default. The sooner one of them can really separate themselves from the other, the better it will be for the Falcons and their outlook for the 2026 season. If that doesn't happen, then 25th may be about as high as they go this year.
This article originally appeared on Falcons Wire: NFL preseason power rankings put Falcons in uncomfortable position