FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. -- Michael Penix Jr. sidled up to the news conference podium inside the Jimmy Cribb media room at the Atlanta Falcons facility after a recent training camp practice.
"Got 'KP' the ball today," the Falcons quarterback said with a smile, placing his SmartWater bottle in front of him. "Gonna be a lot of that."
The "KP" was tight end Kyle Pitts Sr., one of the key figures in an offense that hopes to be among the league's best in 2025. Penix and Pitts have developed a connection with each other over the last several months, one that includes driving to games together and other off-field endeavors. Penix and Pitts have become golf buddies, and Pitts, a veteran enthusiast of the links, is helping to show his neophyte quarterback the ropes.
"Most of the time we go out early, so it's just me, him and [kicker Younghoe] Koo, and maybe a couple of other guys, where it's just us out there and we're just playing fast and just enjoying the time," Pitts said. "Just like how you say, not thinking about football.
"So that's a big thing for us, just hearing the birds chirp and playing music and talking about everything but football."
Pitts and Penix showed flashes of chemistry in the final three games of the 2024 season -- games that Penix started. Penix found a diving Pitts in the end zone among several defenders on a fourth down seed of a pass late in the fourth quarter against the Washington Commanders in Week 17. The touchdown tied the game, sending it into overtime.
The Falcons eventually lost, but it was an early glimpse of what could be between Penix and Pitts, who is still trying to find that game-breaking form from a Pro Bowl rookie season in 2021.
Pitts is going into his fifth season -- a contract year -- and has had six different quarterbacks throwing to him: Matt Ryan, Marcus Mariota, Desmond Ridder, Taylor Heinicke, Kirk Cousins and now Penix.
The idea that a rapport between him and Penix would be beneficial to all parties involved is not lost on Pitts. He said he has taken note of some legendary quarterback-tight end connections and wants to cultivate something like that.
"Just being younger, I like to just watch older people, so seeing Travis [Kelce] and Patrick [Mahomes], seeing when Matt [Ryan] was here, Matt and Tony [Gonzalez]," Pitts said. "Just all of the great quarterbacks who were successful had a great relationship with their tight end. So, just seeing that and learning from other guys, that's something I kind of authentically wanted to grow with him, and it's pretty cool."
Penix, for his part, has gone all in on golf. He has improved after something of a disastrous start, Pitts said, and just bought some new clubs. The accuracy might not be there yet. But Koo said Penix, with his lefty swing, can drive the ball 325 yards or more.
"Honestly, he just started and he's got something that you can't teach, which is speed," Koo said. "He hits the ball farther than anybody I've seen. ... [his] ceiling is very high."
Penix said he started golfing earlier this year, prompted to hit the links by Pitts. He's starting to get serious about it -- Penix is too competitive to settle for being mediocre. He joked that he's going to tab his sponsor Adidas for some golf clothes soon. But more than anything, it's a way for him to connect with teammates -- especially Pitts.
"I feel like our connection is great, not just what we've been doing so far on the field, but off the field as well because of that," Penix said. "And each and every day, even when we're golfing, we talk football, too, every now and then. Just talking about different plays, different routes and stuff like that. So I feel like that time away from football, we still kind of in that mindset like, OK, yeah, we out here having fun golfing, but we know what's the real thing we need to work on and make sure we continue to get better at each and every day and we've been doing a great job with it."
Falcons passing game coordinator TJ Yates, a former NFL quarterback himself, said he has been out golfing with Pitts and Penix. Yates joked that both are "terrible golfers," though Pitts is improving and Penix "can absolutely smoke it -- just doesn't know which way it's going to go."
"The better relationship they can have off the field is only going to make it better on the field, and it's began to grow and grow and grow this entire offseason into this camp and everything," Yates said.
Falcons head coach Raheem Morris said he saw golf as a way for Penix to keep his competitive mindset focused on something else when he's not playing football. It wasn't until recently that he became more aware there was some extra intentionality to Penix playing with Pitts, specifically.
"I didn't even realize until he got up and he was talking about he threw the ball to [Pitts] the other day to [the media] -- and that's important to him," Morris said. "And those are things that are really important."
