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The Atlanta Falcons stunned everyone during the first round of the 2024 NFL Draft in Detroit, Michigan when they took Washington quarterback Michael Penix Jr. with the eighth-overall pick.
Aside from the initial shock of Penix Jr. going a bit higher than where many people had him going, the pick makes absolutely no sense at all.
Frankly, it all revolves around incumbent quarterback Kirk Cousins. The Atlanta Falcons signed the former Minnesota Vikings quarterback to a huge deal in the offseason. Cousins’ contract is for four years and $184 million. Most of the guaranteed money is in the first two years, but that’s a ton of money committed to a pretty good player in Kirk Cousins.
If you’re going to sign a guy like Kirk Cousins, it means you want to win now. And, the Falcons could win now in a really bad NFC South. They have weapons around Cousins in RB Bijan Robinson, WR Drake London, and TE Kyle Pitts. Plus the offensive line is pretty good, and the defense is solid enough. The NFC is weak, too, so the Falcons making a run could definitely happen.
But, if you’re going to try to win now, you can’t waste a top-ten pick on a quarterback you’re not going to play right away! The Falcons could’ve used that pick to to get someone who is going to help them win now!
Instead, they went with a guy who will be 24-years-old by the time the season starts. That means, if he sits for two years behind Cousins, he will already be 26-years-old! He could end up sitting longer, too! It makes no sense.
And, much of this isn’t anything against Michael Penix Jr. While I think he would be a reach at number 8 for any team, worse quarterback prospects have gone higher in the draft than that. But, it simply makes no sense from a long-term organizational standpoint for the Atlanta Falcons.