The Falcons ‘ collection of Michael Penix Jr. is the most absurd and perplexing draft choice in NFL Draft record. There is no way to sweeten this.
I have nothing against the Falcons. The team I support do not compete with them in any way in their department. Plus, I am a natural anti-the-gay or opposing intellectual, which would grant me every motivation to find a reason to disagree with the selection and stand up for it.
But that’s impossible, yet for me.
When you sign people to a$ 180 million package, as the Falcons did with former Minnesota player Kirk Cousins, you do it for one reason: To win a Super Bowl. You do it because you think that person will guide you to sport’s” Promised Land.” And when you give people a commitment of that nature, you’re giving them a win because you’ve already paid them.
Kirk Cousins ( 8 ) watches from the sidelines of an NFL football game between the Minnesota Vikings and the Detroit Lions on Sunday, January 7, 2024 in Detroit, Michigan, USA. ( 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 did n’t really believe in Cousins or have no idea what you are doing.
In the case of the Falcons, I may think the latter.
Second, it needs to be said that there’s nothing wrong with Michael Penix Jr. He was a fantastic school player, and he has every opportunity of becoming great in the NFL.
Michael Penix# QB08 of Washington engages in a drill during the NFL Combine at the Lucas Oil Stadium on March 2, 2024, in Indianapolis, Indiana. ( Kevin Sabitus/Getty Images )
There is no point in wanting to take a QB when you do n’t “need one.” Jordan Love and the Movers did that in 2020.
The distinction is that Jordan Love was selected in the 26th round rather than the 8th square. There is a significant economic variation between what the 26th pick receives and what the 8th get receives.
The Packers and the Falcons basically selected Penx with the same strategy in 2020: wedding him to be the long-term start. However, when you place a man among the top 10 in the top 10, you do n’t have three or four years to allow him to sit on the bench.
Again, it’s not about Penix. It’s about the find.
But it’s also deeper than that. It’s about the manner the Falcons handled the situation.
According to Cousins ‘ broker, Mike McCartney, Cousins had no idea what was about to occur.
” Yes, it was a big surprise”, Mike McCartney said. ” We had no thought this was coming. The category, in fact, had no thought this was coming. We do n’t go heads up. The Falcons called Kirk while they were running. That was the first we heard. It always came up in any chat”.
When he confronted GM Terry Fontenot following the choose, Falcons owner Arthur Blank said he was surprised by the decision.
Terry Fontenot, Falcons GM, explaining why they chose Michael Penix Jr. over Arthur Blank’s picture as landlord. twitter.com/lFtc1neHl5 https ://t.co/GMGYgaCnok
— Dov Kleiman ( @NFL_DovKleiman ) April 26, 2024
When did the Falcons make the decision to draft Michael Penix Jr., which some people are asking?
According to reports, the Falcons did n’t even bring him in for an interview at their facility.
Michael Penix Jr. did not take a leading- 30 attend to Flowery Branch. The Falcons met with him at the Combine after just 45 minutes of training.
A QB taken in the first team should almost never get listed among the top 30.
In the end, ATL was content with the work they did.— Dianna Russini ( @DMRussini ) April 26, 2024
Who picks a player with the eighth overall find after just meeting him at the combine and witnessing him jimmy the ball around a little bit? Not only is that incredibly strange, but you do n’t tell your$ 100, 000, 000 QB that you’re taking another quarterback until you’re on the clock?
The Falcons starting to look like they did n’t make a decision until the night of the draft, or even before they were running out.
This implies that the Falcons have fans instead of parents running their staff. Standard managers and seasoned head coaches, such as Terry Fontenot and Raheem Morris, weigh their judgments against the team’s long-term goals and the owner’s wishes.
Arthur Blank is 81 years older. He is never considering how outstanding Michael Penix Jr. will be in four or five years. He wants to win right away. That’s why they drafted Kirk Cousins. And, only as significantly, that drive to succeed today is why Kirk Cousins signed in Atlanta. Cousins is just coming off a significant damage and is in his 13th year in the group. He wants and needs to get right away, like Blank, and is unlikely to have left Atlanta if he had not faith the Falcons ‘ “all-in” on winning right away.
It’s reported that the negotiations broke down when Bill Belichick was reportedly seeking to replace him as the Falcons ‘ head coach earlier this offseason after Belichick insisted on having employees power. I suppose we now understand why Belichick favored employees power.
