When the Falcons selected Michael Penix with their first pick in the NFL Draft, they surprised their fan base, Kirk Cousins, and pretty much everyone else watching the draft. Terry Fontenot and Raheem Morris present a straightforward argument. With Cousins, Atlanta hopes to contend in the postseason and won’t be able to get a player of Penix’s calibre in the future. The Falcons made the decision to bolster the most crucial position in sports because they were afraid of the quarterback circus that followed Matt Ryan. In a perfect world, there would be very little room for error and a narrow route. Penix as a prospect has helped some Falcons supporters and national experts change their minds, although they still don’t entirely understand the process. Honestly, the athlete who finished second in the Heisman Trophy race is unrelated to the outcry. For Michael Penix, it is awful. He should be having the time of his life, but instead he’s in the middle of a storm. This is the Falcons that we know, and like the fans, Fontenot’s peers are all perplexed by his choice. The Athletic’s Mike Sando spoke with numerous NFL executives, and the majority of them had unfavourable things to say about the various draft classes. An executive questioned how one could enter free agency and decide, “Penix is our guy, but let’s give $100 million to Kirk Cousins just in case Penix doesn’t fall to us at eight?” “Man, come on.” This is the question that many Falcons supporters have. The issue is not Michael Penix. The issue is spending your most valuable draft pick on a non-contributing player after giving Cousins $180 million. The impression is one of disarray, as though the Falcons are winging it. “Some say they can terminate Kirk’s contract after two years, which is essentially saying, ‘Well, we think he won’t work out, so we can terminate the contract after ’25,’ but you can’t think like that when you’re investing $100 million in Kirk Cousins,” said one another executive. Kirk Cousins must be thinking something like this, isn’t that right? He is undoubtedly a pro’s pro. He is determined to perform the job to the best of his abilities, which includes being a great colleague to his successor at the end. But it’s difficult to imagine a scenario in which he spends every second of his contract in Atlanta, which raises the question, “Why?” “What if, during minicamp, you decide, ‘Oh my God, let’s go with Michael Penix,’ and Cousins isn’t even taking pictures?” asked another executive. “Because, as you may recall, moving Cousins is far more challenging than moving Penix.” When you realise Penix is the one, you might be forced to live with your cousins.” This is a topic of discussion already.Dan Patrick is rumoured to be saying that Penix will get first-team reps during offseason workouts. If there is one thing we know about the Southpaw, it is that he performs best in an environment like to a pro-day, which is what NFL OTAs are. Penix will be the star of the Falcons’ team while Cousins recovers, and the drama will start. If things don’t work out, it will be a total disaster. However, Sando’s following point is the most troubling one. “Other executives pointed out that when the Bears signed quarterback Mike Glennon to an unexpectedly large contract in 2017, six weeks before Chicago traded for quarterback Mitch Trubisky, the Falcons’ current director of player personnel, Ryan Pace, was the team’s general manager. For four starts, Glennon received $18.5 million in pay. Sando stated, “Cousins’ contract guarantees him $90 million over the next two seasons.” I have discussed the history of Atlanta’s director of player personnel.Drafting quarterbacks has proven to be an utter failure for Ryan Pace. Not only did he make a mistake in the 2017 NFL Draft, but a few years later he also selected Justin Fields. Neither was able to secure a second contract. He is, after all, but a gear in this broken system. The majority of the balme should go to the man at the top. “Manager Terry Fontenot’s other dubious top-10 draft selections, including the selection of tight end Kyle Pitts at No. 4 in 2021, were linked by executives to the Penix decision,” Sando continued. The NFL has made fun of the Falcons once more, yet there is a situation where they emerge from this laughing at everyone who questioned and chastised them—almost like a “Endgame” singularity. But at this moment, nobody understands.
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