Falcons

Falcons HC Kevin Stefanski believes QB Michael Penix will gain more control and confidence over the team’s offense once he is fully cleared to return to work.

“I’m very, very confident in where we are with Mike,” Stefanski said, via Pro Football Talk. “I think he’s doing a great job. I’m confident in the plan that medical has for Mike, that Mike has in everything we’re asking him to do. I think confidence comes from all of these reps, and when he’s cleared for 11-on-11, confidence comes from those reps as well. Very, very pleased with where Mike is.”

Falcons

Falcons LB Jalon Walker will miss the 2026 season, and it was clear OLB coach John Timu and HC Kevin Stefanski had big plans for the versatility the pass rusher would have brought in his second season.

“We all know what he means to the team,” Timu said of Walker, via The Athletic. “When he comes in, we feel it. Huge loss. It was a huge deal because it allowed us to provide multiplicity. Where is Jalon going to be on this snap and this snap? I think there are other guys who are a possibility, but it was tough news for us to lose him.”

“To see Jalon go down was disappointing and frustrating for him, but I know what he’s made of. He will bounce back,” Stefanski added. “In the interim, like any injury or player being unavailable, we just have to make sure we have a plan defensively to move guys around. There are guys that go in and out of your lineup for injury or other reasons, so how you play could change a little bit game to game. That’s what we’re trying to do right now is find out a little bit about ourselves.”

It won’t be easy for the Falcons to move forward without Walker, and teammates weighed in on both the loss and how they plan to step up to replace his leadership and production on defense.

“That’s the worst part of this game, stuff like that,” LT Jake Matthews said. “He’s one of the leaders of our defense. He’s a vocal guy. He leads by example. He’s always in the right place. The leadership role he took on at such a young age is really impressive.”

“Everybody has to be able to do their job,” LB Samson Ebukam noted. “We all play in the NFL. You have to go out there and compete, do (your) job the best (you) can do, and let everything fall where it may. No matter who goes down, you have to be able to perform at the same level. I know we’ve got pass rushers in the building, so that’s exactly what we’re going to do.”

Two players expected to step up in Walker’s absence are LB BJ Ojulari and DL Bralen Trice; both have dealt with injuries in the past. Ojulari has started in just 19 games in four seasons, while Trice has missed both of his NFL seasons due to torn ACL’s.

“I’m confident for sure,” Ojulari commented. “You just have to put your head down, keep working, take it one day at a time. Do your job. … We all can rush the passer — just got to keep working every day. We’ve got to bring it.”

“I feel 100 percent comfortable out on the field,” Trice said. “I’ll be the same if not better just because I’ve had this time to figure out how I want to be on the field, how I want to take care of my body. That’s a huge part of the game.”

“Bralen is doing a nice job,” Stefanski said of Trice. “Looks healthy, very disruptive, powerful player. We will continue to bring him along and find his fit on the defense.”

Panthers

Panthers HC Dave Canales notes that WR Xavier Legette has looked back to his regular self in training camp, with Legette noting that he may have played too loosely last season and needs to focus on being more aggressive.

“Really good to see him back out there playing like himself,” Canales said, via the team website. “Playing fast, just knowing where to be. He looks explosive. He’s the same focused guy that I’ve known for going on three years now, so the intensity and the focus is still there. He’s very comfortable in what we’re doing. And then what I’ve seen him do is just make great plays on the boundary, back of the end zone, just some of those spatial plays where he can go attack the ball, find a way to get his feet down, and he’s really attacked that part of his game, and that’s something that I’ve seen him really improve on.”

“I learned a lot,” Legette said of last season. “Stuff like that can get you benched and sidelined and stuff like that, so I just can’t do stuff like that. I just honed into the details, man. And everything that I was dealing with last year that I put on tape that was bad. I just had to take a step back, you know what I’m saying? For me, I just kind of felt like I was probably a little too loose, so I just had to take a step back and just focus on the main thing. Like the stuff that I was doing, I never did stuff like that before. So I just had to take a step back. The mishaps that I was doing on the field. I never had done nothing like that, like lining up outsides and stuff like that.”

• Panthers WR Ja’seem Reed (calf) got imaging on Monday, while OLB Cam Gill (shoulder) finished the game with some soreness. (Mike Kaye)
• Per Kaye, QB Haynes King won’t play this week and remains week-to-week, while CB Will Lee has a groin injury but nothing serious.