ATLANTA – It’s going to be Michael Penix Jr.’s first time on the Flowery Branch practice field. The Falcons will assess about eight draft picks and about eighteen first-year players during their three-day rookie minicamp that starts on Friday. However, all eyes will be on Penix, the team’s unexpected No. 8 overall selection and potential franchise quarterback. Indeed, the Falcons signed Kirk Cousins’ replacement before he had even attempted a play for the team. It’s all been said and done when it comes to this scenario; what counts now is Penix’s performance. He won’t be playing much during the regular season, so he will have plenty of opportunities to use his offseason, which runs from now through training camp and the preseason. During his press conference, Penix stated, “I know I’m going to put in a tonne of work to make sure whenever I do step on that pitch, it’s not going to be a beat missed.” Prior to his time in Washington, where he became a Heisman Trophy contender, Penix was frequently injured in college. He told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that those years equipped him for the patience he’ll need in Atlanta. When Penix will start his debut game, it is unknown to both him and his teammates. Penix told the AJC, “I’ve experienced hardship where the game was taken away from me.” “This isn’t like that. I’m in good health. This wait is not the same. But I learned different lessons from those experiences. I learned a whole new level of preparation from it. It showed me how to apply all of my knowledge to improve even though I wasn’t playing on the pitch. Thus, now that I’m at a higher level, my mental workouts, daily preparation, and preparation for going about my business—knowing I couldn’t be on the field—will only get better. Rookie minicamp is not going to yield much, but it is Penix’s chance to meet new teammates, work with coaches, and become familiar with the facility. He is able to display the powerful left arm that helped him succeed in the Pac-12. He is also capable of exhibiting the leadership abilities that everyone admires in him. According to Falcons general manager Terry Fontenot, “when you can add a high-caliber player like that, with his intangibles and those tools, he’s a winner, very, very excited.” “You don’t pass up that opportunity.” Penix, who turned 24 on Wednesday, had the most passing yards in the nation in the previous campaign (4,903). Third place went to him for his 36 passing touchdowns. He guided the Huskies to a conference championship and a berth in the national tournament. Although there was some speculation that he might not be selected in the first round, the Falcons were certain that if they passed, another team would most likely select him given the current trend of selecting quarterbacks—six were chosen in the first 12 picks. After North Carolina’s Drake Maye (No. 3), LSU’s Jayden Daniels (No. 2), and USC’s Caleb Williams (No. 1), Penix was the fourth quarterback selected. He cleared the ranks of Oregon’s Bo Nix (No. 12) and Michigan’s J.J. McCarthy (No. 10). Prior to choosing Penix, the Falcons had not selected a quarterback in the first two rounds since Matt Ryan (third overall, 2008). Beyond those two, they have drafted quarterbacks in the first round in the past, including Randy Johnson (1966), Chris Miller (1987), Steve Bartkowski (1975), and Michael Vick (2001).
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