Penix brings more confidence into 1st full season as Falcons starter following 3-game 2024 audition

FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. (AP) — The Atlanta Falcons may be better positioned for a winning season with second-year coach Raheem Morris because the offense will be led by a quarterback, Michael Penix Jr., who won't feel like a first-year starter.

Penix said after Thursday's opening practice of training camp he feels more confident entering his second season because he was given his first three starts to close the 2024 season after Kirk Cousins was benched.

“Yeah, it’s very important,” Penix said. “Just knowing, just being able to go out there and get those games with full-speed reps. It instills confidence, knowing I can go out there and do the same thing that you saw in college and all my life. So, you know, just I would say biggest thing is confidence.”

The Falcons were 1-2 with Penix as the starter to finish 8-9 for their seventh consecutive losing season. Though the switch to the rookie didn't produce a playoff berth, Penix said the experience was important for his 2025 outlook and his chemistry with the offense.

“So Week 1 this year won’t be the first time I’m on the field with the starters in a game-time situation,” Penix said. “I feel like that was good as well. So the guys around me as well know what they’re going to get out of me.”

Penix spoke with confidence when he was asked about the potential for an offense that returns running back Bijan Robinson, wide receiver Drake London, tight end Kyle Pitts and an experienced offensive line.

“We should be the best in the league with the guys we’ve got around us,” Penix said. “We should be unstoppable. So that’s that’s our goal. We want to be No. 1 in all categories.”

Penix spent extra time throwing to Pitts and London this offseason and had Pitts on his mind when he spoke with reporters Thursday.

“You see we got KP the ball today,” Penix said to open the interview session. “There’s going to be a lot of that.”

Penix has the confidence of his teammates as the new leader of the offense.

“He’s just that guy and he goes out there and he does the same thing every day and that’s work hard,” London said, adding Penix “has a cannon” as a passer.

Cousins returns in a backup role after disclosing on the Netflix docuseries “Quarterback” that he played through pain in his right arm in the second half of the season, in part to avoid losing his job to Penix. Cousins threw eight interceptions with no touchdowns in a stretch of four straight losses following a 6-3 start and insisted through the streak he was healthy.

Morris said Thursday the comment by Cousins in the Netflix show was “kind of old news” and added “we addressed that when it was happening. ... Nothing was a shocker.”

Cousins, 36, signed a four-year, $180 million contract last March that included $100 million guaranteed. General manager Terry Fontenot has said the team is comfortable with Cousins as the backup to Penix. Morris said in the offseason “we won't hold him back if the opportunity presents himself” to be traded to a team looking for a starter.

Morris said “it feels more settling, more at ease” as he begins his second season as coach.

“I think it feels even more familiar than it had felt before,” he said. “Being back the second time, being back with the same people ... I’ll come back with the entire offensive staff coming back.”

Morris said all players reported on Wednesday and all are on schedule to be available for the season. Some players, including linebacker Troy Andersen (knee), won't be exposed to all contact at the start of camp. Andersen was placed on the physically unable to perform list. Also, inside linebacker Malik Verdon, defensive lineman LaCale London and defensive back Cobee Bryant were placed on the non-football injury/illness list and defensive back Kevin King was released.

The team's first practice in pads will be on Tuesday.

Right tackle Kaleb McGary showed off a new short haircut and said he is “all good” after having bone spurs removed from his ankle in an arthroscopic procedure.

Fans were invited to the opening practice, producing a long line at the gate surrounding the practice facility an hour before the session.

Morris said he is “really fired up about this team, really fired up about this organization, really fired up about the fan base.”

AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl

Atlanta Falcons Coach Raheem Morris addresses members of the press prior to the first open training NFL football camp on Thursday, July 24, 2022, in Flowery Branch, Ga. (Miguel Martinez/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP)

Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Penix Jr. (9) speaks to the media at the team’s NFL football training camp, Thursday, July 24, 2025, in Flowery Branch, Ga. (Miguel Martinez/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP)

Atlanta Falcons Coach Raheem Morris speaks to the media prior to the first open training NFL football camp on Thursday, July 24, 2022, in Flowery Branch, Ga. (Miguel Martinez/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP)

Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Penix Jr. (9) speaks to the media at the team’s NFL football training camp, Thursday, July 24, 2025, in Flowery Branch, Ga. (Miguel Martinez/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP)

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — A state appeals court will decide whether to dismiss felony voter misconduct charges against an Alaska resident born in American Samoa, one of numerous cases that has put a spotlight on the complex citizenship status of people born in the U.S. territory.

The Alaska Court of Appeals heard arguments Thursday in the case against Tupe Smith, who was arrested after winning election to a regional school board in 2023. Smith has said she relied on erroneous information from local election officials in the community of Whittier when she identified herself as a U.S. citizen on voter registration forms.

American Samoa is the only U.S. territory where residents are not automatically granted citizenship by being born on American soil and instead are considered U.S. nationals. Paths to citizenship exist, such as naturalization, though that process can be expensive and cumbersome.

American Samoans can serve in the military, obtain U.S. passports and vote in elections in American Samoa, but they cannot hold public office in the U.S. or participate in most U.S. elections.

Smith's attorneys have asked the appeals court to reverse a lower court's decision that let stand the indictment brought against her. Smith's supporters say she made an innocent mistake that does not merit charges, but the state has argued that Smith falsely and deliberately claimed citizenship.

State prosecutors separately have brought charges against 10 other people from American Samoa in Whittier, including Smith’s husband, Michael Pese.

Thursday's arguments centered on the meaning of the word intentionally.

Smith “and others like her who get caught up in Alaska’s confusing election administration system and do not have any intent to mislead or deceive should not face felony voter misconduct charges,” one of her attorneys, Whitney Brown, told the court.

But Kayla Doyle, an assistant attorney general, said that as part of ensuring election integrity, it's important that oaths being relied upon are accurate.

About 25 people gathered on a snowy street outside the Anchorage courthouse before Thursday’s hearing to support Smith. Some carried signs that read, ”We support Samoans.”

State Sen. Forrest Dunbar, a Democrat who attended the rally, said the Alaska Department of Law has limited resources.

“We should be going after people who are genuine criminals, who are violent criminals, or at least have the intent to deceive,” he said.

In a court filing in 2024, one of Smith's previous attorneys said that when Smith answered questions from the Alaska state trooper who arrested her, she said she was aware that she could not vote in presidential elections but was “unaware of any other restrictions on her ability to vote."

Smith said she marks herself as a U.S. national on paperwork. But when there was no such option on voter registration forms, she was told by city representatives that it was appropriate to mark U.S. citizen, according to the filing.

Smith “exercised what she believed was her right to vote in a local election. She did so without any intent to mislead or deceive anyone,” her current attorneys said in a filing in September. “Her belief that U.S. nationals may vote in local elections, which was supported by advice from City of Whittier election officials, was simply mistaken.”

The state has said Smith falsely and deliberately claimed citizenship. Prosecutors pointed to the language on the voter application forms she filled out in 2020 and 2022, which explicitly said that if the applicant was not at least 18 years old and a U.S. citizen, “do not complete this form, as you are not eligible to vote.”

The counts Smith was indicted on “did not have anything to do with her belief in her ability to vote in certain elections; rather they concerned the straightforward question of whether or not Smith intentionally and falsely swore she was a United States citizen,” Doyle said in a court filing last year.

One of Smith's attorneys, Neil Weare, co-founder of the Washington-based Right to Democracy Project, has said the appeals court could dismiss the case or send it back to the lower court “to consider whether the state can meet the standard it has set forth for voter misconduct.” The state also could decide to file other charges if the case is dismissed, he said.

The court did not give a timeline for when it would issue a ruling.

Bohrer reported from Juneau, Alaska.

State Sen. Forrest Dunbar, left, stands with supporters of Tupe Smith gathered Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, outside the Boney Courthouse in Anchorage, Alaska, ahead of the Alaska Court of Appeals hearing a challenge to the voter misconduct case brought against American Samoa native Tupe Smith by the state. (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen)

Supporters of Tupe Smith gather outside the Boney Courthouse in Anchorage, Alaska, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, ahead of the Alaska Court of Appeals hearing a challenge to the voter misconduct case brought against American Samoa native Tupe Smith by the state. (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen)

Michael Pese and his wife, Tupe Smith, stand outside the Boney Courthouse in Anchorage, Alaska, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, ahead of the Alaska Court of Appeals hearing a challenge to the voter fraud case brought against her by the state. (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen)

Michael Pese, left, his wife, Tupe Smith, and their son Maximus pose for a photo outside the Boney Courthouse in Anchorage, Alaska, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, ahead of the Alaska Court of Appeals hearing a challenge to the voter fraud case brought against her by the state. (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen)

FILE - Tupe Smith poses for a photo outside the school in Whittier, Alaska, May 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen, File)