The Falcons shocked many last Thursday when the team opted to take Washington quarterback Michael Penix Jr. with the eighth overall pick of the 2024 NFL Draft. Some saw the pick as a reach in value, thinking Penix could’ve been acquired after trading back; others saw it as a wasted opportunity to address a position of need after Atlanta had just given Kirk Cousins a four-year, $180MM contract with $90MM guaranteed. All this while the team faces significant tampering charges that could deprive them of more first-round picks in the future. 
In terms of value, the Falcons feel like they got a steal, at least concerning positional value. Penix ended up being the fourth quarterback off the board, following Caleb Williams, Jayden Daniels, and Drake Maye, but was drafted before J.J. McCarthy, who was ahead of him in most mock drafts and rankings. According to Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated, Atlanta was satisfied with how the order of quarterbacks played out, favoring Penix over Maye and McCarthy, though Maye’s camp had reportedly declined to work out for the Falcons, thinking he’d certainly be gone by No. 8 overall. Some in the building even had Penix ahead of Daniels at No. 2.
There also didn’t seem to be any interest in trading back. Breer reports that the team had made inquiries about moving up previously, investigating the availability of the draft’s top picks while in Indianapolis. They reportedly “got flat-out no’s” from Chicago and Washington, while the Patriots and Cardinals informed Atlanta that they would not be moving from their selection until they were on the clock. These rejections were part of what spurred the Falcons to land Cousins.
Speaking of Cousins, we’ve mentioned that the 36-year-old passer was understandably “stunned” by the team’s decision to take a quarterback with their first-round pick, much like the rest of us. Breer added a bit of context to Cousins’ shock that came with little-to-no heads up. He tells us that Cousins’ departure from Minnesota was, in part, due to the Vikings informing him that they had plans to draft a passer in 2024, making the Falcons’ similar plan sting all that much more.
The reasoning for the Falcons’ decision ended up coming down to their research into draft history. Head coach Raheem Morris and general manager Terry Fontenot explored a history that showed, on average, only one or two quarterbacks that make it in the NFL out of each draft class, very few of whom are drafted outside the top 10 picks. Also, having sought Cousins to escape from the past two years of a kind of quarterback crisis, owner Arthur Blank was not content with Cousins being the only plan moving forward; he desired a succession plan.
Fontenot explained to Blank that the personnel department didn’t have much faith in the quarterbacks that would be coming out over the next two years, that their best chance for a strong succession plan to Cousins was right in front of them. Fontenot asked Blank, “Are we gonna win for a couple seasons and then not be able to win anymore…?”
In the end, Blank agreed to the moves deemed necessary, Fontenot called Cousins once they were on the clock, and the team selected his eventual replacement. In doing so, though, the team gained a newfound sense of security. Assistant general manager Kyle Smith told the media that with the acquisition of Cousins and the drafting of Penix, the brass feels great about the quarterback position “for the next five years…minimum.”
Here we go
I’ve never seen this much hate over a talented QB draft pick in years or the need to rehash it over and over lol….I’m not the biggest fan of the pick. Fan of Penix, just not the draft slot but I’ve come around to it and nothing anyone can do it about it now anyways.
Like you said, people just aren’t a fan of the pick. If they were going to draft him, they shouldn’t have signed Cousins.
It’s like the worst of all worlds. You just signed a 36 year old QB for a ton of money, you have glaring needs on Defense, and the QB you drafted is the oldest and most injury-prone in the class, and probably won’t start until he’s 27 at the earliest.
Just doesn’t make sense for a team that’s trying to win now in a weak division.
Having 2 good QBs is definitely not the worst of all worlds lol. Especially after having several not good QBs the last 3 years….and I keep seeing everyone reference the need to compete because of our weak division. ‘Win-Now’ mode because of a weak division contradicts itself. It’s like we all know they’re not winning a SB with Kirk nor a deep playoff run, but yet they screwed up cause it’s a ‘win-now’ team smh.
He hasn’t been injured the last two years
Man look it threw me off too but they’re milking this thing hard. ESPN, nbc sports etc everyone is milking this narrative hard and it’s going to be annoying. It’s not the end of the world if we took a QB number 8 and I’m a die hard falcons fan
OK, setting aside that I think Penix was a reach to take at 8 even for a team that needed a solution at quarterback, and this is not a controversial thought–he was 34th on Arif Hasan’s consensus big board behind four other QBs. And they JUST gave Cousins a contract that clearly says he is their solution at QB.
There are two reasons to draft a QB: 1) Because you might get the kind of franchise QB you can rarely get your hands on unless you draft them. 2) You get a QB who’s any good at all and you have them for so much cheaper than a middle of the road veteran. that you can really spend elsewhere.
Even if they move on from Cousins after two years, there’ll still be a big dead cap hit, so the benefit of the rookie contract will be offset after two years of maybe getting very little out of him. Then you’ll have one cheap year before his fifth year option–which you’ll have to decide on after having given the guy one season to actually play.
So you’d better hope that Penix is REALLY good when he actually takes the reins, because you’re sacrificing a big chunk of the value in drafting a quarterback, not to mention the opportunity cost of not drafting Rome Odunze or literally any defensive player. They could easily have traded down and had their pick of defensive player.
Just an incredibly weird use of a top ten pick and an incredibly weird thing to do before your huge free agent veteran QB has even played a snap for you. It can only really be justified by Penix turning out to be great. And are you really that confident in Penix or the hit rate of quarterbacks in general?
Emphasis on the “literally any” defensive player…
The most stupefying pick in NFL history, wait til Penix is 26 to make him the full time starter? Absurd, baffling, job losing type stuff, if the falcons don’t make the playoffs this season because their defense can’t stop the Panthers let alone a real team….will boggle the mind for generations, I think Penix can be good but dude isn’t one of the QBs from this draft who needs to sit, he’s gotta play to become good in the NFL
I think maybe this tells you they have info that we don’t about the chances of getting hammered with tampering and future number 1s, so they took a qb now while they, in their minds anyway, expect to be drafting real low the next few years or not at all in the 1st. So, they took advantage early of holding the number 8 slot. General strategy-wise it’s not really so stupid; it’s the player chosen that makes you uneasy.
But this also means thsy won’t be able to draft a high end edge rusher any time soon.
Even if Penix turns out to be really good, it won’t realistically happen for a couple of seasons. They signed Cousins as a “win now” move; Penix does nothing to support that move.
This makes it seem like the Falcons think Penix has a better chance of panning out since he was drafted in the top 10, as if trading back and drafting him 11th or 12th would have lowered the chances of him succeeding.
I’m sure they’re smarter than that but I guess you never know lol
They took one look at the Broncos and decided they needed a backup plan at QB.