Inside the star-filled dorm room of Atlanta Falcons QBs Kirk Cousins ​​and Michael Penix Jr.

FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. — When Atlanta Falcons rookie quarterback Michael Penix Jr. walked into his dorm room for the start of training camp on July 24, he did so with some extra — and unusual — baggage.

Among the items in Penix’s bags were a tub of trail mix and a packet of Zyn, but neither was for him. Instead, Penix took on the role often assigned to rookie roommates: snack carrier.

The recipients? Two veteran quarterbacks, starting Kirk Cousins, backup Taylor Heinicke and star tight end Kyle Pitts.

Cousins ​​wanted trail mix candy. Heinicke said it was a light choice and that Cousins ​​should have opted for Sour Patch Kids or another form of candy. But Cousins, a big fan of trail mix candy, wasted no time in making sure Penix’s investment didn’t go to waste.

“I was already getting into it this morning,” Cousins ​​said Thursday after Atlanta’s first practice. “It’s nice to have a little something there, and I’m pretty simple in that regard.”

Pitts described Cousins ​​as a “big trail mix guy.” The fourth-year tight end, meanwhile, has preferences much closer to those described by Heinicke.

“I love a good Snickerdoodle cookie,” Pitts said. “Or fried Oreos, gushers. Yeah.”

While Cousins ​​and Pitts asked for snacks, Heinicke took a different — and more continually taxing — approach.

“He brought me Zyns,” Heinicke said. “That was my only request. I told him that every time I didn’t have Zyns, he would be fined. So he’s done a good job so far.”

Penix, on the other hand, considers himself a “moment” guy. He likes fruit, but generally eats whatever he wants, and it’s usually not snacks.

“I just like food,” Penix said. “I don’t really like snacks.”

The various personalities come together to create perhaps the most interesting roommate situation in the Falcons’ dorms overlooking IBM Performance Field in Flowery Branch.

But that quartet wasn’t chosen by the players or even head coach Raheem Morris. The task falls to Brandon Ruth, who is the Falcons’ director of operations and handles travel and logistics.

Morris said he trusts his employees to do their jobs — and after all, some aspects of team building don’t extend to dorm life.

“I don’t get involved in the buddy system,” Morris said Saturday before Atlanta’s third practice at Seckinger High School. “I certainly haven’t gotten involved in it. I don’t need Penix Jr. to know how Kirk is sleeping right now. He can tell him.”

Yet Penix doesn’t need any help in this area: he and Cousins ​​are already quite similar.

Pitts said Friday, after the second day of camp, that he rarely talks to Cousins ​​in their dorm room. They talk before Cousins ​​goes to bed, but once the team finishes workouts, practices and meetings during the day, there isn’t much time left in the evening.

And Cousins ​​doesn’t really work both nights.

“I try to catch him right before he falls asleep so we can go over the (practice) script,” Pitts said. “He’s nodding, he’s yawning around 8 p.m., and I’m like, ‘Oh, man.’”

Heinicke, noting that Cousins ​​turns 36 next month, joked that Cousins ​​goes to bed shortly after 8 p.m., when in reality it’s not much later.

After calling his family, Cousins ​​usually goes to bed around 9:30 p.m., the same time as Penix. But on their first night in the dorm, they didn’t get much sleep, and it wasn’t necessarily because of excitement.

Cousins ​​said he used to sleep at 67 degrees, but the air conditioner was set at 72 degrees. Cousins ​​woke up in the middle of the night sweating, and when he got up to turn the temperature down, he discovered there was a pin, so the thermostat — and therefore the temperature — was locked.

“I thought, ‘Oh no,'” Cousins ​​said. “So I turned on the ceiling fan and didn’t get much sleep.”

The next morning, as he was leaving the dorm to ride the elevator, Cousins ​​ran into Heinicke. Sleep — and the weather — quickly became the topic of conversation.

“I asked Taylor, ‘How did you do it? Are you more of a 72-degree type? My brother likes it hot, but I like it cold,’” Cousins ​​said. “He said, ‘I got about four hours of sleep.’ I said, ‘Well, we’re going to get it down to 70 degrees tonight.’”

Cousins ​​added that his goal in leaving the press box Thursday afternoon was to take the temperature. Pitts said the next day, the situation was resolved and the temperature was set at 68 degrees Fahrenheit, a welcome sight after a long night.

“There were rays of sunshine in there,” Pitts said of the first night.

Like Cousins, Penix has a strict sleep schedule. The 24-year-old goes to bed at 9:30 p.m. and wakes up at 5:30 a.m. to prepare for the day ahead, a process that includes a stay in a hyperbaric chamber to maximize treatment.

Heinicke said he doesn’t see Penix much at night. Since Penix is ​​the only freshman in the dorm, Heinicke noted he studies a lot.

Pitts and Heinicke, however, spent a lot of time together. Pitts went to Heinicke’s room each night to review the script for the next training session and, when finished, spent time discussing his work.

Heinicke is also a gamer. He was the most active player in the dorm on EA Sports College Football 25, even though he spent the first two nights playing solo. On Friday night, with the next day’s practice starting at night instead of in the morning, Pitts played against Heinicke for the first time.

And Pitts, despite struggles with game control, pulled off an overtime victory.

“There’s going to be some bad blood there for a little while,” Heinicke said with a smile.

As for the other two roommates, Penix and Cousins, some thought a few months ago that there was a risk of bad relations.

At the start of free agency in March, the Falcons gave Cousins ​​a four-year, $180 million contract, with $90 million guaranteed over the first two years. Their plan was to let him lead the way and end a six-year playoff drought.

A month and a half later, Atlanta selected Penix with the No. 8 overall pick rather than address more immediate concerns in the pass rush and secondary.

The plan from Morris and general manager Terry Fontenot then was to allow Penix to develop behind Cousins, so when the four-time Pro Bowler eventually leaves the organization, there will be a clear transition plan.

In a situation that some may consider precarious, Penix has seized the opportunity to gain knowledge, and Cousins ​​is ready to provide it.

The two haven’t spent any one-on-one time together during their first few days as roommates, but they’re in the quarterbacks’ meeting room for a large portion of each day, allowing them to spend plenty of time together.

During these meetings, Penix, who uses an iPad to take notes, said he occasionally glances at Cousins’s gridded notebook. Smiling, Penix notices that Cousins ​​is writing in small print.

Penix also takes a cue from Cousins ​​in using GoPro footage. Atlanta has its quarterbacks wear the video camera on their helmets, which provides another platform to provide insight and commentary.

For coaches, it’s a way to see what’s being communicated in meetings. For Cousins, it’s a way to check how he’s performing and how well his humor is being received.

“I tell a joke that I think is kind of funny, and then I listen to it and I say, ‘Don’t say that. That wasn’t good,’” Cousins ​​said. “Or I watch it and I’m like, ‘I think that’s cool,’ but then I watch the video and I’m like, ‘I’m a nerd.’”

Penix also watches Cousins’ GoPro video, but instead of focusing on the jokes, he watches other forms of communication, like how Cousins ​​calls plays and takes control of the huddle.

Morris said during OTAs that Cousins ​​injects his personality into play calls, and running back Bijan Robinson noted that Cousins ​​has an element of detail and precision in the huddle that helps his command.

And through it all—from trail mix to GoPro and everything in between—Penix is ​​watching, absorbing, and recording everything he sees of Cousins, whether on his iPad or his brain.

“He’s awesome, man,” Penix said. “He’s so smart and I continue to learn from him and watch what he does day in and day out — how he carries himself and how he runs the offense, and just me, making sure I soak it in.

“As a leader, I also like to learn. We have to continue to learn the process throughout this journey, so I’m going to continue to learn.”