There’s no way to sugarcoat this, so I won’t: The Falcons selection of Michael Penix Jr. is the most nonsensical and bewildering draft day decision in the history of the NFL Draft.
I have nothing against the Falcons. The teams I root for do not play in their division and are not a rival to them in any way. Plus, I am an against-the-grain, or oppositional thinker by nature, which would give me every inclination to find a reason to go against the outrage of the decision and defend it.
But that’s impossible, even for me.
When you sign someone to a $180 million deal, as the Falcons did with former Minnesota quarterback Kirk Cousins, you do it for one reason: To win a Super Bowl. You do it because you believe that person is the one who is going to lead you to football’s “Promised Land.” And, when you give someone a contract like that, the person you’re committed to winning because you just paid them like someone who is committed to winning.
Minnesota Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins (8) looks on from the sidelines during the second half of an NFL football game between the Minnesota Vikings and the Detroit Lions in Detroit, Michigan, USA, on Sunday, January 7, 2024. (Jorge Lemus/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
However, when you do that, and then eight minutes later, you draft a QB with the 8th overall pick, you leave the impression that you didn’t really believe in Cousins or have no idea what you are doing.
In the case of the Falcons, I will believe the latter.
First, it needs to be said that there’s nothing wrong with Michael Penix Jr. He was a great college player, and he has every chance of achieving greatness in the NFL.
Michael Penix #QB08 of Washington participates in a drill during the NFL Combine at the Lucas Oil Stadium on March 2, 2024, in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Kevin Sabitus/Getty Images)
Nor is there anything wrong with wanting to take a QB when you don’t “need one.” The Packers did that with Jordan Love in 2020.
The difference is that Jordan Love was the 26th pick in the first round, not the 8th. There is an enormous financial difference between what the 26th pick gets paid and what the 8th pick gets paid.
The Falcons essentially draft Penx with the same idea the Packers had in 2020: Groom him to be the long-term starter. But you don’t have three or four years to let a guy sit on the bench when you take him in the top 10.
Again, it’s not about Penix. It’s about the pick.
But it’s also deeper than that. It’s about the way the Falcons handled the situation.
According to Cousins’ agent, Mike McCartney, Cousins had no idea what was about to happen.
“Yes, it was a big surprise,” Mike McCartney said. “We had no idea this was coming. The truth is the whole league had no idea this was coming. We go not heads up. Kirk got a call from the Falcons when they were on the clock. That was the first we heard. It never came up in any conversation.”
Falcons Owner Arthur Blank seemed surprised by the move to when he confronted GM Terry Fontenot after the pick.
This begs the question that few others are asking: When did the Falcons decide they were drafting Michael Penix Jr.?
According to reports, the Falcons didn’t even bring him in for an interview at their facility.
Who takes a quarterback with the 8th overall pick after only meeting him at the combine and watching him chuck the ball around for a little bit? Not only is that incredibly strange, but you don’t tell your $100,000,000 QB that you’re taking another quarterback until you’re on the clock?
It’s starting to look like the Falcons didn’t decide to take Penix Jr. until the night of the draft, and maybe not even until they were on the clock.
This means that the Falcons do not have grownups running their team; they have fanboys. General managers and veteran head coaches like Terry Fontenot and Raheem Morris, respectively, weigh their decisions against the long-term benefits of the team and the will of the owner.
Arthur Blank is 81 years old. He’s not thinking about how great Michael Penix Jr. will be four or five years from now. He wants to win now. That’s why they drafted Kirk Cousins. And, just as importantly, that drive to win now is why Kirk Cousins signed in Atlanta. Cousins is headed into his 13th year in the league and is just coming off a major injury. He’s like Blank; he wants and needs to win now and likely wouldn’t have gone to Atlanta unless he believed the Falcons were “all in” on winning now.
It’s reported that when Bill Belichick was interviewing to become the next head coach of the Falcons earlier this offseason, the talks fell apart after Belichick insisted on having personnel control. I guess we can now see precisely why Belichick wanted to have personnel control.
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