FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. — Kendal Daniels thought his job was stressful. Then he saw Jack Strand’s homework.“I sit next to him in some of the rookie meetings, and I see his playbook, and I’m like, ‘Man … ’” Daniels, the Atlanta Falcons’ rookie linebacker, said. “I feel the stress going out there with the first group, but as the quarterback … I couldn’t imagine being in his spot right now. I really couldn’t.”Strand couldn’t imagine it 10 days ago. The 22-year-old quarterback from Bloomer, Wis., was an undrafted afterthought out of Division II Minnesota State Moorhead way back then.Then Michael Penix Jr.’s surgeon delayed the quarterback’s full return to practice.Then Tua Tagovailoa’s back tightened up.Then the Falcons released third-string quarterback Trevor Siemian due to an injury.And, all of a sudden, Strand was Atlanta’s starting quarterback on the first day of training camp. He learned that news the night before.“He’s handling it a lot better than I would,” Daniels said. “He’s doing great.”Meet the Falcons new quarterback Jack StrandJosh KendallStrand, in fact, handled almost all of the first-team reps in team work through the first week of training camp as Tagovailoa and Penix rehabbed and newcomer Cooper Rush learned the offense.“It’s really impressive,” tight end Kyle Pitts said. “To be thrown in the fire like that, it’s pretty cool to see how he’s embracing it. He’s getting better. I have to give him his credit. Each day he’s coming more into it.”Strand remains a long shot to play in the regular season, but given the health histories of the Falcons’ top two quarterbacks and the early reviews he’s getting from coaches and teammates, it’s not out of the question.“One of the things I have been telling myself a ton,” Strand said, “is just, ‘Be where your feet are. Just enjoy the moment. Don’t dwell on any success or any mistakes you might have had. Don’t look to the future or worry about what’s going to be happening in a couple weeks.’”Plenty is going on to occupy Strand’s mind in the present. He’s still cramming every day on the Falcons offense, a routine that includes having his girlfriend of the last seven years read the play calls to him over the phone at night so he can better recite them in the huddle.That part is working, Pitts said.“You can hear the deepness in his voice for sure,” the tight end said of the 6-foot-4, 240-pound quarterback. “He’s got some bass in there.”Strand impressed the Falcons during the NFL Draft process because of his height, arm strength and intelligence, coach Kevin Stefanski said, and those traits carried over into training camp. Strand had a 3.87 GPA in engineering physics in college and was a finalist for the William V. Campbell Trophy, the premier academic award in college football.“Jack continues to impress with his ability to command the offense, to get in and out of the huddle, get us in and out of run plays and pass plays,” Stefanski said. “He’s a very, very bright young man, and when you see him up close, he’s a big kid who can stand in the pocket and deliver.”Strand stands noticeably higher than the rest of the quarterbacks during drills.“That dude’s a tank, bro,” wide receiver Drake London said. “He’s a big person.”The Falcons’ skill players are rallying around the young quarterback, London said.“I think it’s really, really good for him, and we have the kind of people where we’re going to bear with him and keep on trying to grow with him,” London said.Even Tagovailoa and Penix have welcomed Strand despite the threat he might pose, Strand said.“Those guys are awesome, and they have been so welcoming to me,” Strand said. “Any questions I have, I know I can go to them, and they will help me out. It hasn’t felt like I’m lower in the QB room or whatever. They are treating me like any other QB. It’s been awesome to get a chance to work with them.”“Dude can sling the ball,” said Tagovailoa, whose workload was increasing as the Falcons opened their second week of training camp Monday.The Athletic’s Dane Brugler ranked Strand as the 15th-best quarterback prospect in the 2026 draft, and when Strand went undrafted, he was one of Atlanta’s first calls. He started 42 games at MSU Moorhead, throwing for 13,161 yards, 126 touchdowns and 50 interceptions in four seasons, and he turned down transfer portal options before his senior campaign.“It was never my intent to transfer, no matter what,” he said. “I didn’t have a ton of schools (approaching me) like some of these guys might have had, but I wanted to stay (at MSUM). They were loyal to me. They were the only ones who gave me a scholarship offer. Once I had some success there, I didn’t want to just use them as a boost to get to another school. The relationships I built with my teams and my coaches — that’s not something I wanted to leave just to go chase a paycheck.”That loyalty has made him something of a hometown hero.“Everyone from back home has been so supportive of me, texting me to see how things are going,” he said. “That’s such a blessing for me to hear from those people and see the support I have back home.”Some of Strand’s youngest brother’s high school teammates, excited by his recent battlefield promotion, have gotten his phone number and now text him encouraging messages. (The middle Strand brother, Zeke, is a tight end at Augustana University in Sioux Falls, S.D.)“Our school wasn’t really getting a lot of national attention before myself … and the guys around me got there,” Strand said, “so the years we had there and me being able to come down here and elevate that platform for the school, that’s something I have been so happy to do.”That platform will grow if Strand makes the Falcons’ 53-man roster. It will explode if he starts a regular-season game.“As a quarterback, you prepare to be the starter,” Stefanski said. “That’s just how you do it. Everybody has to prepare themselves like they’re the starter. That’s how that room works. That’s the nature of that position.”For now, though, Strand isn’t thinking about that. He’s trying not to even think about tomorrow.“I’m just taking it day by day, trying to attack every day, get better every day whether I’m getting a bunch of reps or not getting any reps,” he said. “The mindset doesn’t change, whatever reps I get. I just have to treat those reps like game reps because that’s how I get better and that’s how our team gets better.”