It’s only taken five months for Kevin Stefanski to turn the Atlanta Falcons into an all-too-familiar version of his previous regime with the Cleveland Browns.
In painfully poetic fashion, both the Browns and Falcons held their first voluntary OTA workouts this week with no set order atop their quarterback depth charts. In Cleveland, head coach Todd Monken will be monitoring both Deshaun Watson and Shedeur Sanders closely, per ESPN’s Daniel Oyefusi. Down in Atlanta, Kevin Stefanski will be doing the same with Michael Penix Jr. and new addition Tua Tagovailoa.
Stefanski provided reporters with an update on his team’s looming quarterback competition, and Falcons expert Jason Kandel summed it up with one word: “intentional.” After years of listening to Stefanski politely speak behind a podium without offering so much of a shred of substance, that one word is sure to send shivers down a lot of Browns fans’ spines.
Time is a flat circle. https://t.co/lMpyMLEF1H
— Daniel Oyefusi (@DanielOyefusi) May 19, 2026
“While addressing the media for the first time since OTAs kicked off on Monday, Stefanski made a telling comment in regards to the looming QB battle,” Kandel wrote. “He confirmed that the two signal-callers would split first-team reps during OTAs, which I expect to continue once training camp starts in mid-July.
‘Intentional’ is a word Stefanski used, and it's incredibly fitting. By splitting first-team reps, the Falcons will allow their new coaching staff to get a closer look at both Penix and Tagovailoa as the former gets healthy and see how both of them will fare in a much more favorable situation on offense.”
Falcons fans are already getting a taste of the Stefanski experience
Falcons fans aren’t yet pulling their hair out following Stefanski pressers. That comes with time. As Browns fans know painfully well, all Stefanski is doing here is picking a clever word that sounds good at first but ultimately doesn't mean much of anything. It’s no different than the “that’s on me” and “we’ll get it fixed” lines Browns fans and media members were served ad nauseam following losses.
Did anything ever get fixed? Of course not. Otherwise, Stefanski wouldn’t be in Atlanta right now.
The Monken approach in Cleveland has already been refreshing, with the whole Watson situation being a prime example. Monken obviously knows that Browns fans want nothing to do with Watson in 2026 and are eager for what turned out to be one of the worst executive and ownership decisions in professional sports history to be over. He has also plainly stated to reporters that it will be an open competition between Watson and Sanders, and the past will have no bearing on his decision.
Is that what the majority of Browns fans want to hear? Of course not, but at least Monken has been telling it straight from Day 1 and clearly warning fans: Look, be prepared, this might happen and be best for the team in 2026.
We’ll take that approach every time over ambiguous phrases like “very intentionally.” What does that even mean in a football sense?
It means absolutely nothing. Best of luck this year, Falcons fans.
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