It has been a week since the first round of the 2024 NFL draft, but the Atlanta Falcons’ decision to take quarterback Michael Penix Jr. at No. 8 overall despite previously signing Kirk Cousins is still confounding people around the league.
“I’d love to know what the conversations were in Atlanta leading up to that and why there was no adult supervision,” a former general manager said, per a Thursday report from Mike Sando of The Athletic. “Truth be told, they could be good next year with Kirk Cousins, come away with the 25th or 26th pick, and then you take a quarterback in that range. That is what Green Bay did with Jordan Love, and it is fundamentally different from what Atlanta just did.””
An executive also raised questions about the strategy.
“How you could go through free agency and think to yourself, ‘Penix is our guy, but let’s give $100 million to Kirk Cousins just in case Penix doesn’t fall to us at 8’?” the executive asked. “Come on, man.”
It was certainly an unusual approach to the draft, especially for a team that figures to be in win-now mode following the addition of Cousins to an offense that already features Bijan Robinson, Drake London and Kyle Pitts, among other weapons.
Atlanta could have used that No. 8 pick on an impact player who could have helped it win the NFC South this season.
Instead, Penix will sit on the sidelines as long as Cousins stays healthy and is more of an option for future seasons.
Cousins reportedly felt like the team should have focused on the 2024 season instead, as his agent, Mike McCartney, told ESPN’s Pete Thamel the quarterback was frustrated that the team picked Penix instead of someone who can help him compete during the upcoming campaign.
Even if the Falcons were determined to leave the draft with Penix, they could have traded down and still drafted him while collecting additional picks to perhaps help the team this year.
Yet the team was confident in its decision-making.
“We do something else right here, and then we win for the next few seasons and then Kirk decides to hang up the cleats, whenever that is, then Michael Penix is somewhere playing at a really high level and we’re in quarterback purgatory, we don’t have a quarterback,” general manager Terry Fontenot said, per Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated. “We knew in our heart if we had a lot of people in the building that loved him and expected him to be that player, and he’s somewhere else, then that’s unforgivable.”
There is something to be said about providing some security at the position behind Cousins, who is coming off a significant Achilles injury and will turn 36 years old in August.
Still, the Falcons using the No. 8 overall pick of the draft to do so remains a surprise.
2024-05-02 14:19:16
#ExNFL #Rips #Falcons #Adult #Supervision #Michael #Penix #Pick
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