One of the draft’s biggest surprises came on Friday night when the Falcons used their top selection on quarterback Michael Penix Jr. That move came about despite Kirk Cousins being on the books for the next four years (including fully guaranteed salaries in 2024 and ’25). 
Cousins will, of course, enter the coming season atop Atlanta’s depth chart. The presence of a successor in the form of Penix could nevertheless invite questions about a change in the pecking order in the event of poor performance on the part of the former. Cousins – who was stunned by the Penix selection – was the top free agent passer in this year’s class despite his age (35) and the fact his 2023 season was cut short by an Achilles tear.
A slow start in 2024 or further missed time brought about by a new injury could lead to calls for Penix to see the field. The Washington product dealt with plenty of health-related issues of his own in college, but his stock rose during the pre-draft process to the point where he was expected to hear his name called in the first round. Still, Atlanta was not thought by many to be a serious suitor for Penix, and owner Arthur Blank reportedly played a central role in the decision to select him.
Raheem Morris is back in place as the Falcons’ head coach after an interim stint with the team in 2020, and he will be tasked with overseeing the transition to Cousins under center. When speaking to the media following the arrival of Penix, Morris made it clear there is not a QB controversy entering the 2024 season.
“We came up with a decision, this is what we plan to do,” Morris said (via ESPN’s Marc Raimondi). “And Kirk does not have to look over his shoulder every time he throws a bad pass. Like, that is not the case. So I know I’m going to have to tell you guys once or twice that that is not the case. Like, we are here to go win, and we are here to go win it all. We are here to win as much as we can win.”
Indeed, expectations will be high for Atlanta’s offense after the team struggled to find a suitable Matt Ryan replacement. Cousins will provide a high floor for the unit, but plenty of attention will be on Penix as the Falcons’ intended starter down the road. If Morris’ stance holds true through the campaign (and likely the 2025 season as well), however, Cousins can be assured of his spot in the QB1 role.
Falcons are doing a great job at going 7-10 for eternity
Signing Cousins alone hopefully added 2 wins. Talent is all over the field before the draft results
“Like” he sounds like a high school coach
More like a high school cheerleader…
I get the idea of 1st round QB
But you could have traded back and out of 8 and got someone like Bo Nix later or even Penix later while stock piling draft picks.
And even if you don’t get Nix or Penix you have 2 more drafts+ years of Cousins to find an heir who can sit behind cousins and learn.
You couldn’t look at 2025 or 2026 and find someone you like?
Look at all the best QBs of the last few decades. They all sat and developed for at least a year….Patrick Mahomes, Tom Brady, Joe Montana, Aaron Rodgers, Brett Favre, Steve Young, really most hall of fame QBs. The reason these teams have to keep drafting QBs year after year is because they throw a green QB in their rookie season and ruin their confidence. QB is the hardest position on the field. You need to know an extensive playbook, understand reads and line protection, and its way faster than the NFL. We will look back in 10 years and see that the Falcons were genius to get Kirk to still have a shot at the playoffs, and not have to rush the development of Penix. Dude is a gamer. And there was no way he would be available later, Minnesota and Denver would both could have taken him. I mean, would you rather have Penix or JJ McCarthy the handoff merchant?
I’m a big Packer fan, but if Jordan Love started his rookie year, he would be out of the league already. The reason the Packers have had 30+ years of top quarterback play is because they drafted their future QB a few years ahead of schedule. Sure, it will ruffle some feathers, but the Falcons realize this, and they are going to start following this model.
Penix was downgraded only because of his injury history. Look at what he has done in the biggest games. Against Texas in the playoff. Against Ohio State while he was still at Indiana. Dude is a baller, and more importantly, a true leader. A lot of QBs don’t have those intangibles.
And yet many teams today have been able to produce franchise QBs without the need to sit guys for years. It’s a thing of the past in most instances.
Herbert, Burrow, Stroud, Tua, purdy, Prescott, Allen, Jackson, Goff, Hurts, Murray,
It’s more common for guys to start right away than sit and learn for years. More of the upper echelon QBs played right away compared to guys sitting 2 or 3 years behind a veteran.
Also. The guys you mentioned didnt have teams sign guys to mega extensions and then draft a qb with a top 10 pick.
farve was a 2nd round pick by the falcons traded to the packers.
Rodgers was a 20s pick
Brady was a 6th round pick pressed into duty cause I forget his name for injured
Young was traded as a bust when the Bucs drafted Vinny.
I agree with your point, K-Mid, about letting QBs sit a year or two. That’s why this move would have made more sense next year, or possibly the year after. Cousins is going to start for the next two years minimum, barring injury or a massive crash. He’ll be on the books for longer than that. By the time Penix starts, he’d have sat for four years possibly. Atlanta will have him then on a fifth year option for a year before having to shell out for a new deal, or picking a new QB.
Love, despite his current effectiveness, did also do to the Packers what Penix is doing to the Falcons, which is costing an opportunity to get a start-now piece for the offense. Unlike the Packers at the time, we don’t know how far Atlanta is in competing with their current set up, but that is an element to consider when making this decision. Will it be the right decision? We’ll see, but I think it’d have made more sense next year or the year after. If nothing else, it’d make the contract situation much easier to manage.
The majority of the older QBs (like Montana) sat for a year because it was the conventional wisdom of the time. Brady and Favre sat because they weren’t expected to even be the starter. Same with Young who was a supplemental pick and behind Steve DeBerg, who was an established starter and solid QB at that point.
But the argument for learning on the job can be made, too. Josh Allen, Peyton and Eli Manning, etc all started pretty much right away and struggled. Allen was extremely raw. Eli looked terrible. Peyton threw 28 INT and went 3-13. Turned out fine.
Plenty of examples of guys coming in on Day 1 and being great, too. Burrow, Stroud, etc.
There’s also no way to say that guys like Mahomes couldn’t have been amazing right out of the gate as well. Mahomes threw 50 TDs in his second season after sitting during his first. It’s pretty likely that he would have been great if he played immediately.
Bottom line, imo, is some guys can make it and some can’t. Some need to sit and watch, some need on-the-job training. There’s no correct answer.
As for the Falcons, signing Cousins was a move to make them competitive *this year*. Instead of following that plan and spending the pick on something that could help them win this year, they blew a top 10 pick on someone who likely won’t help them for two more years. Pretty strange move.
They all sat and developed for at least a year…
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That’s fair, but plenty have sat and NOT developed. And it depends on your short-term goals. If you’re a bad team, you can take a year off and develop a QB.
If you are hoping to be a contender, then someone like Odunze makes you a good bit better.
Say what they want, Cousins gonna have to look over his shoulder, why else would they draft a 24 year old QB, he’d be 28 before he had an opportunity unless of injury, or unless Cousins actually does have to be gold
Like espn isn’t gonna have a headline “is it time to play Penix” after every loss for them lol, my question is what does Atlanta say when a Dillon Gabriel type gets drafted in the mid second next year and plays moderately in the 2025 season while their 8th pick rides pine
The Falcons could be paying Cousins $50 million to be a backup in 2025. Nice allocation of resources.
Imagine if they had passed on signing Cousins, still drafted Penix, and allocated the $100 million guaranteed to Cousins in 2024 and 2025 to greater needs–like their paltry pass rush.
What a clown show.
Penix will be better suited to develop over a year or two if you want the best out of him. We will see in 5 years time who was right.
5 years? It’s the Not For Long league. 5 years of patience don’t exist.
Two years from now we won’t have a good idea of what Penix has done for his career. They always say to look four years later for how good a draft was. It takes a minute for guys to establish themselves. So a year or two of resting, and 3-4 years of starting. I mean Aaron Rodgers waited three years. Steve Young waited FOUR years, and he didn’t look good his first year. Seifert was going to bench Young permanently for Bono. If you want a good QB, you have to be patient. Teams that aren’t are drafting new QBs every four years. I mean, look at the Bears!
the whole point of drafting a QB in the first round is that you may get 5 cheap years at the highest paid position. sitting one year is fine…any more than that is stupidity.
The whole point of drafting a QB in the first round is so that you can win a Super Bowl in the future. Teams that have the mindset of “I just need to get cheap years out of this guy” fail 9 times out of 10.
he had 65 starts in college, he is 24, now you want to sit him for 2 yrs, start him at 26? and he will be sitting around watching Maye (less ready than him with less experience) start. cmon man. This draft pick by ATL was a joke and a waste.
I’m just going to point to Steve Young’s career. That is all. Penix is very similar to his trajectory. Similar stature, scrambling ability, winning mentality, injury history, age before starting etc. The 49ers dominated the 90s because they traded for Young. Can you imagine if we had today’s media when they sent a 2nd and a 4th to the Bucs for him, only to sit him for four years??
Then people go, how did the 49ers and Packers get back to back HOF QBs? It’s because they let guys with talent sit as the backup and improve their game. If Young stayed with the Bucs, he would have petered out behind that garbage O-line.
Cousins deal in essence is a two year deal and falcons can get out of it without significant cap implications. Unless Atlanta is coming off a couple of Super Bowl runs with Cousins then Penix is the starting qb in 2027 at 26 which is about the age Aaron Rodgers, Steve Young, Len Dawson and many other HOF quality qb’s became starters.
2 years and $90 million guaranteed. Its funny how you don’t hear all the details until after the draft lol. As ugly of a situation the Falcons seem to have created they may just have set themselves up for good 6-8 years run of quality QB play….And let’s be honest is anyone really making bets the Falcons winning a Super Bowl with Kirk. ‘Atlanta Retreads’ is already my fantasy team name for this season after hiring Morris as HC and signing Cousins.
It’s going to be $100 million for two years. You don’t pay a bridge QB $50 million per season in a league with a salary cap.
The Falcons have a competitive roster. Why throw a rookie into the fire, so they can blame him when they miss the playoffs? Teams do this year after year. Build up a top defense, bring in some weapons, and then trot out some green QB and watch as they get slaughtered by an NFL defense, then hear every fan and journalist label BUST. I’m sure that is great for confidence.
Pretty much they will cut him after 2 years, they will still have some sort of dead money though. Cousins will be 38 at that time, they can’t keep him around for that much money left.
Then why sign him and max out their cap space? They would have been better off trading up for Penix for a fraction of the price. But once he got by NYG’s, he was their’s w/o any of this from everyone that watches of participates in the game. Disaster of a play by them. Only die hard Flacon fans won’t acknowledge that.
Bad move indeed. Question. Is Penix tradeable? If so, move him and get someone or someones you can use this year.
It isn’t like before where teams traded for Kevin Kolb with barely any tape. Traded for Jimmy G with limited time played. 10 yrs ago you could fool teams into trading for unknown. They trusted the guy sat behind a great QB or coach and developed.
Trade Penix and it will likely be what the 2021 QBs were getting traded for.
I am not a falcons fan so I was unaware this man was their coach. Since he is, and he had some say in this approach and someone in the front office thought hiring him was feasible, it all makes sense now.
Coulda got Cousins another toy, u just signed em to that megawatt deal. How bout stud edge or corner that high, coulda help immediately. Unnecessarily burning draft stock 4player who may ride pine4 3yrs.
Successful teams don’t make decisions through ownership meddling. If Blank doesn’t trust his front office to do their job he should have different people in charge. If he wants to play GM he should go play Madden.
Penix at 8 was not a good pick with all that money committed to Cousins. If they had traded down and gotten Penix that would have been the thing to do.
The falcons took the most valuable asset available. Valuable assets can always be sold or traded for defensive talent. I’m sure they will get unsolicited offers. One may be too much to resist.
Which team would offer more than what the Falcs paid?
I don’t see the issue, there are no guarantees in life and certainly that is the case in the NFL
The issue is the Falcons drafting an injury-prone QB at 8 after signing a journeyman QB to a $100 million guarantee. ATL’s WTF moment was all over social media on Thursday night (not Friday) and well into the next day.
I agree with Lefty and it’s entertaining to see that everyone is an expert on the Falcons despite the fact that neither QB has even taken a snap with the team.
What does that even mean? The fact that there are no guarantees should mean the Bears should’ve passed on Williams?
I’m surprised that this is being tagged as a “situation.” Unless the Falcons are charitable in giving away tens of millions of dollars, Cousins has at least two years locked up and $90M in the bank. The kid was drafted as a future player and current insurance piece that ‘could’ be used as a trade piece if they want to capitalize before next years draft.
Future trade piece that’s gets them a 2nd round. Arizona drafted Josh Rosen too 10 and shipped him out the following season for a 2nd when they drafted Murray.
If they wind up trading him and getting less value than the #8 pick it’s a total waste and everyone from gm to janitor should be fired immediately.
And it’s not like Atlanta brought in guys to help Penix develop. They brought in Zac Robinson who was gifted HOF qb Matthew Stafford. Had they brought in a coaching staff that had success helping young QBs succeed ala Shanahan, Siriani, guys it’d make more sense. But Atlanta didn’t do that.
See least Houston brought in Ryans to fix the defense who was smart enough to bring in the dude who had a hand in turning Mr Irrelevant into a franchise QB in Bobby Slowik.
That “future player” in todays NFL will be crying to play by next year, year after in the least which will complicate the QB room for sure, especially with Blank on the hook for $100 million….not buying that Blank was influential in drafting Penix with their top draft pick after guaranteeing Cousins that much money…..you don’t spend a draft pick this high on a guy who’s going to be sitting for the next 3-4 years……they have and had much more immediate needs to help them especially with a new coach…..dysfunctional situation down in Atlanta….
Likely three years unless the Falcons pick up a $35M dead-money hit.
This is what happens when you let owners play GM.
No, this is what happens when the owner says to the GM “you’re running the football show here” and the first and most important time the GM’s tested, Blank ends up realizing that he just got blindsided and now realizes his first mistake was the GM……
4th and 8!!!
This team is never going to escape 28-3. They are screwed until they get a new owner.
There’s going to be a congressional hearing based on this pick at this point lol
He needs to give this interview twice. Once to address the quarterback situation, then another to do it again.