FALCONS PULL SHOCK OF THE FIRST ROUND, PICK WASHINGTON QB MICHAEL PENIX JR. 8TH OVERALL
The Atlanta Falcons shocked the world on the first day of the NFL Draft by making a move that will go down as one of the most stunning selections of the entire draft by the time everyone closes out shop in Detroit this weekend.
Expected to use their pick at 8th overall on a defensive player like Alabama edge rusher Dallas Turner, General Manager Terry Fontenot and the Atlanta Falcons zagged by not only picking an offensive player with their top 10 pick for the fourth year in a row, but also picking a potential franchise quarterback.
The Falcons used their eighth overall selection on Washington quarterback and National Championship runner up Michael Penix Jr. on a night where six quarterbacks went in the first 12 picks of the NFL Draft, setting a new record. Atlanta had signed former Minnesota Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins to a significant four-year, $180 million deal in free agency last month and were expected to be all in on the Cousins train over the next few years. Which is why picking a quarterback early in the first round was a complete shock to most people.
Speaking in his presser after the first round of the draft, Falcons General Manager Terry Fontenot didn’t see the selection as a surprise in the way most people saw it. “When you can add a high caliber player like that,” said Fontenot. “With his intangibles, those tools, he’s a winner, [we’re] very, very excited, you don’t pass up that opportunity. Kirk Cousins is our quarterback, we’re very excited about Kirk. We’re very excited about this team. Michael Penix is the future.”
“The draft is… you look at the future. You look at big picture and we’re very excited about that quarterback room. Kirk is our quarterback but adding Michael Penix is thinking about the future.”
NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reported before the draft that the Atlanta Falcons had done extensive work on the quarterback class, specifically, Michael Penix Jr., and that owner Arthur Blank had made it clear that succession, especially at quarterback, was something the team was focusing on. Penix, however, didn’t make a top-30 visit to Flowery Branch and the Falcons only attended a 45-minute workout by him and met him at the NFL Combine.
As per NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero, a few other teams liked Penix, including the Las Vegas Raiders, which is probably why the Falcons thought it wise to pick him when they did. The Raiders eventually ended up using their pick at 13 on Georgia TE Brock Bowers.
Kirk Cousins’ agent, Mike McCartney said via NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo that he and Cousins were completely blindsided by the Falcons’ decision to draft Penix. Cousins was at the Falcons’ draft party hyping up fans during the round when the team called him to tell him they were picking Penix.
“Yes, it was a big surprise,” said McCartney. “We had no idea this was coming. The truth is the whole league had no idea this was coming. We got no 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 GM Terry Fontenot declined to reveal how the conversation went when they told Kirk Cousins they were drafting Penix, saying that those conversations are always private. Head coach Raheem Morris, however, alluded to the conversation between him, Fontenot and Cousins not being a pretty one.
“Reactions are pretty private, right?” said Morris. “You know, he got called [while we were] on the clock. Obviously because of the sensitive time with the issues that you got going on, it’s never a right time to talk to a quarterback about those things. And reactions are always going to be private when it comes to those things. Unless Kirk decides to tell you some of those things, whatever the case may be. He’s a competitor, just like us all and you can always expect those things to go just like you kinda think.”
Atlanta is now the first team in the common draft era to select skill position players in the top 8 in four consecutive drafts, breaking the record held by the 2002-2004 Detroit Lions and the 2007-2009 Oakland Raiders who selected skill position players in the top eight in three consecutive drafts. The Falcons selected TE Kyle Pitts with the fourth overall pick in 2021 and have since selected Drake London (8th overall, 2022), Bijan Robinson (8th overall, 2023) and Michael Penix Jr (8th overall, 2024).
Penix led the FBS in passing yards last season with 4,903 yards and set a Washington single-season school record in the process. The former Indiana Hoosier was also the first FBS player to pass for 4,500-plus yards in back-to-back seasons since Patrick Mahomes did so in 2015-16. He added 36 touchdowns in 2023, throwing only 11 interceptions.
Falcons HC Raheem Morris revealed that their plan for Penix was for the soon-to-be 24-year-old to sit for four or five years behind Cousins and take the Green Bay Packers approach with their quarterback. “The Green Bay model was something that we talked about,” said Morris. “It proved to be right last year. So, hopefully, we’ll be right with them.”
The Packers sat 2020 first-round pick Jordan Love behind four-time MVP Aaron Rodgers for three years and named him the starter last year. Love, 25, eventually ended up leading Green Bay to the NFC Divisional Round of the playoffs last year, knocking off the no.2 seed, Dallas Cowboys, in the process.
“If you believe in a quarterback, you have to take him,” said Fontenot. “And if he sits for four or five years, that’s a great problem to have because we’re doing so well at that position. So, it’s as simple as, if you see a guy you believe in at that position, you have to take him.”
The Falcons’ move to draft Penix at eighth overall last night is their latest surprising move at quarterback, going back to last offseason when they openly said they weren’t interested in this year’s MVP, Lamar Jackson, to offering Kirk Cousins, 35, a long-term lucrative deal with up to $100 million in guaranteed money last month.
-Maher Abucheri
Twitter: @pabloikonyero
Photo: Georgia National Guard. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.