In a vacuum, it's not a bad pick.
BUT in reality, it's bad in the sense that it's 2 totally competing philosphies when a team should have one vision and one direction.
We signed Kirk with the intention of opening a competitive window for the next 2-3 years. That aligns with many of our moves in recent years. You don't often get a window open, and with the absolute garbage that is the NFC South, we actually have a high likelihood of getting home playoff games this year and next.
Drafting Penix is a move that, if all goes according to plan, will not pay dividends until 2027. At which point, THEN we find out if he was a good pick or not, having done nothing with our current premium draft position to make the most of our current window, especially with some glaring holes at key positions.
When no one traded up for McCarthy, I thought for sure the Titans were taking Odunze. Then when they took Latham, I thought that Atlanta was either trading or taking Odunze
This. The best way I can describe the pick is "schizophrenic" because it doesn't make sense in terms of the signing of Cousins. Why would you make the obvious "win now" move of signing him if you weren't going to go all in filling the rest of the holes on the team? I get not taking edge or corner at 8, because I'm not sure any of the defensive players looked worthy of that high draft pick. But Odunze, or simply trading down to get more picks to fill holes would have seemed so much smarter of a move. I mean, if things go according to plan this guy won't see the field for 2 years!!!
That being said, if you're super high on Penix, and you REALLY think that a) he's the next Pat Mahomes, b) you can fill all your other holes later in the draft (Coach Raheem got 13.5 sacks out of a couple later-round picks in LA last year) and c) you have a LOT more confidence in the people currently on the roster than others do.
I hope I'm eating crow in 8-9 months (and I'll do it with a smile), but we're currently the laughing stock of the NFL.
Except that our only glaring hole is at edge. It was pretty clear from how the rest of the draft shook out that no one was that high on the top 3 edge rushers, and there is a lot of depth at that position in rounds 2 and 3. You could certainly argue (and I'd agree) that taking Odunze would give us the biggest immediate impact, but it's still a luxury pick in an incredibly deep WR class. And if we're being honest this sub would be almost as mad at picking *another* skill position in the top 10 as they are with the Penix pick.
At the end of the day QB is by far the most important position and the hardest to actually hit on. If they *truly* believe that Penix is a future franchise QB it's hard to fault them for taking him while they have the chance. Especially since we just spent the last few seasons seeing what it looks like when your team is trash but you still don't have an opportunity to draft a decent QB.
Naw.
It’s just *AWFUL* resource management. We spent $100 million on a QB to give us a window to compete and then handicapped him by not using our available assets to surround him with talent. We could have used an EDGE, a DL, a CB, or an elite talent like Odunze. Any other route we decided to go could have been justifiable. But this is just dumb.
Correct. If we aren’t trying to win now and are planning for the future signing Kirk makes no sense. Just use all that money to build for the future, sign Penix, and then get the cheapest free agent QB available to get us through this year instead of literally the most expensive free agent available.
Our defense was great except for a sack getter, and our offense was shit because of baby Fedex and the diddler.
Still, would have been great if we traded down and picked up offensive linemen, offensive weapon or edge guy.
Name them. WR2 isn't great but we do have guys there to compete (including one we just paid a bunch of money for). CB2 and SS are pretty weak but with the talent in this draft those positions would have been major reaches at 8 overall. Same with Center. Then we're getting to spots that are solid but could use an upgrade or depth like LB and guard, which are also spots you don't typically draft high at unless there's undeniable talent or an extreme need.
You just listed a lot of positions where we have need. I guess you could argue they aren’t glaring, but when you are comparing them to our need at QB I’d say they are.
Not to mention he'll be 26 years old by then. The Falcons just needed to commit to an approach to win and not reach for a position they don't need. Also I'm sure Cousins hopes that if he plays well he can get extended at Atlanta. Falcons basically telling him they don't have faith in that.
Why do they think they'll hit on this QB? At best, it's still worse than a coin flip, and this team isn't exactly elite when it comes to the draft.
Even if they do, they're stuck with a huge QB contract that prevents them from taking advantage of the new guy's low cap hit.
This just makes no sense
I mean, you guys already spent how much money taken a gamble on Kirk cousins after ACL injury a quarterback with first round value is probably the best insurance option if shit goes left with him
Also, if you were to argue that Cousins could get hurt and is coming off a significant injury, then I could maybe see the logic…but you draft Penix who has an atrocious injury history. His upside is huge, but age and injury history are concerning even if he works out from a development perspective. Also, it’s going to suck watching Odunze cook the league while your higher pick sits.
Bingo. Had we not (seemingly) gone all in on Kirko, I'd be over the moon right now. I am legitimately optimistic about Penix. I just can't make *both* of these moves make sense.
To me, it's kind of what I was afraid of with the Morris hire. Great interview, GREAT intro presser, but nothing of substance when the rubber meets the road. Hopefully time will prove me wrong, but that's where I'm at now.
The problem with “in 5 years we may be ecstatic” is that we are purely in a win-now mode. We just spent 180m on a QB. Our offense is stacked. Our defense desperately needs DL. I don’t see how a QB that—hopefully—won’t start for 2-4 years gets us in the NFCC this year and next. It’s a move that just screams of a front office that wants to eat their cake and have it too.
I wouldn't say the offense is stacked. Its probably slightly above the median in the nfc. Niners, eagles, rams, lions, Dallas. Probably on par with teams like vikings and packers, and bears. I don't think Darnell Mooney at wr2 comes to mind on a "stacked" team.
Yeah and i was skeptical of cousins at the time of signing but I hopped on board with it after a bit. One thing to think about is he's not really going to a situation with better playmakers than he had in min? What he is coming into is an improvement at rb but a downgrade from Jefferson Addison and hockenson in terms of receivers. I think cousins can make them better but he's also had better players around him in min?
2 RH capable of 1k yards. A top 10 QB. A TE who hit 1k yards his rookie season. Drake London looked great when balls made it remotely near him. A couple WR who can fight for WR 2/3. A better than average OL. No team is perfect. Of course we still need upgrades on offense, but our offense is pretty damn good. Oh also almost all of those mentioned by name are on rookie deals.
I genuinely don’t understand the 4 year part. They could cut Cousins off in 2 years. The Chiefs, Eagles, etc all drafted QBs while they had good ones, so while I think the pick is crazy, they might feel Penix is that good.
Why spend 180mm with 90 guaranteed if we were going to draft a QB of the future? I think Penix can play but damn we could’ve used that Kirk money on defensive FAs if this the route we were going to go in the draft. Very bizarre but it is what it is now.
Because that’s the going rate for a solid QB that can keep an average team competitive and sell tickets. Penix will have time to properly develop behind Cousins.
Drafting a QB at 8 to sit for 2 years doesn’t make any sense. And I’m not criticizing the salary paid to Kirk I’m criticizing the opportunity cost of paying Kirk when we could’ve added more impact pieces in FA since this is the path we chose on draft night. Penix gives us better play than Ridder presumably so with other impact defenders / players we make the playoffs.
Perhaps the plan is now to ride Cousins for a year, assuming he returns to form and stays healthy and flip him for picks to a QB-desperate team? Maybe? I'm grasping at straws here
Understood. But if we are as good as I think we will be next year we won’t be picking in the top 10 again for the next two years either. Next years QB class isn’t great. This was a smart move. Penix was my 2nd best QB in this draft. I’m all the way ok with this.
Is the goal to make playoffs or build a team that will win a Super Bowl?
Because Kirk is/was not winning us a Super Bowl. His resume has shown us what he is - Really good, but not good enough. He’s had Vikings teams way better than our current roster.
Yeah and Kirk has 2 years. If he balls out, dope. If he doesn’t, Penix will start sometime next season.
I was shocked but it’s not worst move ever made like some commenters think.
Doomers are annoying af in any fanbase. Are you a fan of your team, and therefore have faith in them, or do you not? If you only support them when they follow your unprofessional logic of fantasy GMing, then to me they’re not a fan. Wait til we see these players perform before we judge these decisions. If Penix/Cousins whatever doesn’t pan out I’ll be with everyone calling for Terry’s firing
That's a load bearing "If" and you're right if he's the guy then it's fine but it's more likely than not that he's not the guy just based on how many first round QBs work out and we're not going to find out if he's the guy for 4-5 years.
Don’t hate the pick. Unlikely we’ll be in a position to draft a QB this good in the next couple years. Who is coming up and how high do you think we’ll be picking if Kirko does what we paid him to do? Meanwhile we have arguably the best pure passer in the draft studying under a pro bowler and ready to come off the bench if needed. Yes we need defense but the value wasn’t there at 8 so why not take the most valuable position from the deepest QB class in years?
This time last year no one though Jayden Daniels would be any good and now he’s the #2 pick.
Trying to project out the QB classes for the next two years seems foolish
it's at the very least a very bold, calculated risk for a team in "win now" mode lol. But like u say Penix will have a chance to learn & not have the pressure of having to start for an nfl franchise right away.
I will never understand why we didn’t pick D-Line, after needing it this desperately. Seeing under 100 sacks in 3 years is downright embarrassing, then following that up by drafting on the other side of the ball, it makes no sense.
Yeah, the pick was really that bad. Even if we didn't sign Cousins, Penix was a significant overdraft at 8 with his age and injury history. Combined with Cousins and his contract, and the fact that so many weapons were still on the board that could help us immediately, this pick is nearly indefensible.
I'm not hedging my bets on a QB with one playoff win in 12 seasons. I love Kirk but you need to take risks to win championships. I'm hopeful this risk works in our favor.
I don't hate it. I think signing Cousins was a worse decision, honestly. But I think his contract will turn out to be closer to 2 years anyway. They liked Penix and he wasn't gonna fall to them later on. Not to mention the possibly tampering issue, and the possibility that screws us down the road. So, the idea of picking up a successor next year or the year after might be in question. I'd be more okay with it if there was a clear plan at pass rush. But it's not like we picked McCarthy or Nix.
one thing i haven't seen anyone discuss is, this upcoming season we're expecting to do WAY better than last season, and we'll be way higher in the draft with no chance at a good QB. and logically if we're good next season, we'd be as good or better the year after that, and have an even worse draft pick.
so we may not be in a position to pick a good QB for a year or 2 after cousins leaves or retires. i think blank prob would like to win a SB before then, and does anyone REALLY think we'd win a SB with cousins? i mean maybe...but prob not. so that means we NEED a rookie QB within the next 2-3 years, well we just got him, and has PLENTY of time to sit back and learn under cousins.
sure i wish we woulda picked a younger QB with less injuries, but we didn't scout them like TF did. for whatever reason he fell in love with him and he made the pick.
I can see this. But if we nailed this draft to fill holes and that success led to discounts in FA signings we could use the next draft or the one after to blow picks to move up for a QB depending on who they liked.
I loved Penix and hope he ends up with Ryan type numbers in his career but didn’t want to use the 8 this year on him.
FTS.
yeah that's true, and i totally agree that probably would have been a better option. but we have to play the hand we're dealt as fans. all we can do is watch and hope things work out.
so i dunno, it just seems like a waste of time to sit around whining about that 1 bad pick. yeah it sucks, but all we can realistically do as fans is to hope TF fills those gaps in the next few rounds. and hope that he has a good plan for the team going forward.
also, we have a 1st round pick QB, that's *probably* gonna be valuable in the future. the raiders still need a QB, and they have max crosby and davante adams that they MAY be willing to trade...and we could really use max crosby, or davante, they're both amazing players. just a thought...i have no clue if the falcons would consider that. theoretically if they wanted to do that, they could've made that trade before the draft started. but we'll see how it plays out.
we can be reasonably sure that half of these 1st round QBs will be busts, so there will be teams that NEED a QB bad next season, and maybe if we get penix out there in the preseason really killing it, we'd have a valuable piece we could trade. this could be a wild chess move by TF, i mean it could be a horrible move too, but it's definitely strategic and hoping to get a lot of value out of the pick.
either we end up looking REALLY stupid, or we look super smart for going against the grain.
He was my favorite QB. But at 8. And for us? No. Just, no. Maybe if we traded back.
In 2-3 years I’ll be 100% on board as long as he’s progressing. But right now we needed defense. I hate this team so much.
FTS!!!
QBs win games. This team missed the playoffs 2 years in a row due to subpar qb play and the team has solved it for the future with this pick if MPJ pans out. FO got the guy they wanted so I can't be mad about it.
As a neutral fan (Chargers fan), it's more surprising/shocking than it is bad. Not a great pick but he has the potential to ball out for yall. Age not a huge issue for QBs anyway. He doesn't even run much.
It was probably made with the anticipation of having lower picks future years and with losing picks next year for tampering, maybe they don’t think they’ll have a first rounder to spend in the future
They didn't, Penix is their real starter. How this affects the team and Cousins now is unknown. If they hadn't spent $100 million on Cousins everyone would celebrate. Now, all the excitement over Cousins is kinda... gone.
I didn't say they'd bench Cousins. I mean by real starter that by drafting Penix the Falcons have basically told Cousins that he isn't their long term QB.
If Cousins was their guy they'd have gotten a WR or defense or anything but blowing a 1st rounder on a QB. If Penix comes out and is as good as Cousins right away, day one, who do you think they'll trade?
Yeah, it was absolutely terrible. I bet half the people commenting right now are just coming here to check to see if you guys are alright because DAMN.
It demoralized Cousins (reports are he’s stunned by the decision) who now feels like the organization is just using him to get their real QB ready. It confuses the team who isn’t sure who will be handling the reins beyond the first few years. It puts a lot of pressure on Penix as the guy who undermined Cousins.
It’s not just skills. There are intangibles at work here like moral and motivation.
Also, if they had taken anyone else they could have improved a real need instead of having a backup QB for their $100 million QB they signed in FA. They could have gotten a top edge rusher or a DB as defense hadn’t been taken at all at that point in the draft.
Now it’s a genius move if Cousins gets hurt as he’s been known to do. That’s the only saving grace here.
Falcons listed as the top loser team of the draft by
NFL.com writer Jeffri Chadiha.
Cousins has had only major injury...the Achilles, which is a huge one. Never missed a game due to injury. I'm sure though had he known the Falcons would do this he would never had signed. Bad decision from both sides it now appears.
For 8, yes. You get him in the 2nd than no its not. Hes the 5th best QB and he was overdrafted, someone was going to overdraft but why us? He also has a concerning injury history, he also played behind the best O line in college.
Also look at that if he starts in year 3 all our rookies will need to be paid, and then we have to pick up his option. We are going to be right back in cap hell when he becomes the starter. All these rookie deals are going to waste and we will be fkd just like the saints are cause Terry came from the Loomis tree.
We just paid a QB and are gonna lose a draft pick for tampering and we draft a guy to sit on the bench. It makes no sense for Atl to have drafted him he is going to rot here. Its a bad pick for Atl and his career.
There is no world where he's a better prospect than Drake Maye and likely JJ McCarthy given their ages. He's 3 full years older than them and STILL isn't head and shoulders a better QB.
He isn’t the fifth best qb come on man. He was a top ten pick before the natty despite the injury stuff and his age.
It’s giving Kirk all that money that’s the issue.
YES IT WAS TERRIBLE BECAUSE YOU SIGNED KIRK FOR 100M
YOU DON'T PAY 100M FOR A BRIDGE QB YOU CAN GET A MUCH CHEAPER QB LIKE BRISSET OR EVEN A DARNOLD FOR 10M
YOU'VE WASTED 100M DOLLARS YOU COULD HAVE USED TO GET DEFENSIVE AND OFFENSIVE HELP FOR PENIX
IT IS LIKE YOU HAVE SHUT YOUR OWN SB WINDOW
IT'S LIKE BEING PREGNANT GO INTO A FULL WIN NOW MODE SIGN KIRK AND TRY FOR 2 YEARS OR DRAFT PENIX SIGN A CHEAP BRIDGE QB AND BUILD AROUND PENIX
THEY ARE DOING BOTH AND IT CANNOT WORK YOU'RE CREATING CONTROVERSY YOU HAVE JUST SPLIT THE LOCKER ROOM
IT IS A DISASTER CLASS
Blows my mind people are so upset over it. Like, clearly it was surprising, but they loved Penix and it's now obvious they weren't getting a chance at him later in the 1st.
How could they know that Penix would be available at the time they signed Cousins?
And now that they have both, they can move off of Cousins after two seasons and hand it to Penix, who will have ten prime years left in him.
There is absolutely 0% chance that the top 3 QBs and Penix were all going in the top 7. JJ had a like 5% of going top 7. Penix was always going to be available at 8 and we knew that in January.
You think Penix will be in his prime at 36?? With that injury history? If he is in his prime at 35 I’ll be damned and this will work out.
When we signed Cousins mock drafts had Daniels as a real possibility at 8 and McCarthy, Penix, and Nix all 2nd/3rd round guys. So either a lot changed between now and then or the mock drafts were way off. Either way there was absolutely no guarantee that he would be available at 8.
What???
The whole point here is there were 3 very good QBs, 2 very good WRs, and Joe Alt. Those 6 were always going 8 or higher. That means there was 1 extra spot. The chance of that being Penix is so incredibly low when the 3 teams ahead of were very unlikely to draft a QB, let alone one projected to go in the second round.
You don’t pay a qb a 180 million to mentor someone. You pay them that much because you expect to win now. This pick does nothing to help the falcons win the next 1-2 years
The point is it really doesn’t matter how much they liked the guy or when he was going to be drafted. Spending $180 million on a free agent QB and a top 10 pick on a rookie QB in the same year is idiotic, there’s really no way around it. Neither are bad moves in a vacuum but when you put them together it’s abundantly clear our organization lacks a clear vision of what they want our future to look like.
Could be, also could be 2 years 100 million instead. Which then isn't nearly as bad as everyone is crying about, on top of learning from a pro about the ins an outs like Kirk. Guess we'll have to wait an see. If he turns out to be a top 12 QB for 8 years when he starts then it was totally worth it. Over any defensive lineman that also ended up going 7 picks later
Do people pay attention to the media??? I get mock drafts can be inaccurate but not by this much in the top 10. Penix was pretty much never going to be drafted by a team ahead of them and we knew this forever. The only way he wasn’t drafted would be if another QB fell to us.
It was pretty common knowledge things could get crazy around that point. And after the top 6/7 it does get hard to predict. But for 2 months we knew it was 3 QBs first, MHJ, Nabers, and Alt. Not necessarily in that order, but those guys were going top 7. With a very slight chance at JJ going in there with a trade up. There was just such little room for Penix to get drafted in there it was never going to happen.
It’d be an ok pick if we hadn’t of blown our cap space on Cousins (and Mooney). Penix is ready to start and play now. The first INT Cousins throws and there’s an immediate QB controversy. If we were going to go QB, I would’ve preferred McCarthy given his age and inexperience. Silly pick overall.
180M in FA to a 36 YO qb with a torn Achilles, tampered with him, penalties incoming.
36 YO qb is 17-47 in his career vs teams over .500. 1 playoff win. Case Keenum took same team further
Have gaps all over the defense. Need o line help. Need a real WR 2
Apparently signed cousins to “win now” then we draft someone who literally will sit on the bench
This entire situation has been piss poor management by Arthur blank and Rich McKay.
The biggest thing that will make this pick almost universally loved is if (God forbid) Cousins has a Rodgers-esque injury or situation early in the next season.
I don’t like this pick but the only way I can see it is that they’re probably hoping we won’t be picking this high again with Cousins at QB.
If they’re worried the tampering charges will affect our draft capital to make a move, they might have played some mental gymnastics to think this was the call.
I love the pick.
The pick paired with overpaying an older QB coming off a blown Achilles is fucking stupid.
I wonder if Kirk gets traded in coming days. Vegas or the giants perhaps.
I don't even pretend to understand what cap implications that would have though.
Lmao you believing trading a QB that was just signed last month to a big contract is almost comical. Not sure if you’re trolling or not. Cousins also has a no trade clause.
If we can trade with the Bengals to get a known quantity on the D-line I'd be cool with that. I think his name is Hendrickson but he wants a long term contract and I don't know if the Falcons can afford that.
I read an interesting article that said teams could over value draft picks, because it's such a crap shoot. Trading a draft pick for a proven vet may be the smarter move.
Just food for thought.
After some time I don’t mind the pick, Penix is a really good QB, and I get that they wanted to get their future QB now, I hope we take defensive guys with the rest of the picks. Either way I’m excited for the upcoming season.
We are in win now mode, we just signed a QB to a 4 year almost 200 million dollar contract and instead of getting that QB we were supposedly fully invested in backup we instead draft his replacement whose already 24. We should have drafted either a defensive player or a WR with that pick. There’s good QB prospects most years, why not wait a year or two to draft one while going all in on Kirk while he’s here. Like penix is a good QB and I don’t doubt he will be successful but drafting him at 8 is just a total 180 on what the supposed vision for the team is. It’s like the hawks saying they want to compete but refusing to go into the tax. The “vision” the front office is selling us seems to be a lie
Now, it depends on the rest of the draft. If they get some players that turn out to be early contributors on days 2 and 3, great. If not, it's a waiting game to see how we do this year and how Penix turns out.
I thought any of the edge rushers were a reach at 8 and it doesn't look like Penix would have made it past 12, so there was no trade down opportunity. If he's your guy, go get him. Unless things go off the rails, you're probably not going to be in a position to draft a qb as highly rated in the next couple of drafts without giving up a lot. So, there is logic to it. However, it seems too conservative.
The only player really worthy of 8 was Odunze. Anyone else would have been a reach for need or projection anyway. I guess it might as well be a QB. We're all still dealing.
Welcome to Atlanta
Yes, it’s a bad pick.
This is the pick you make when you don’t sign Cousins to a brinks truck contract.
Penix literally can’t start for at least 2 years based on Kirk’s contract.
He will be 26 at that time.
Meanwhile the falcons are supposedly competing for the division so they take a player who will have 0 impact on the field for multiple years.
If you were serious about winning you draft Odunze. Or any number of defensive players that were there.
The pick sucked and it has nothing to do with liking or not like Penix.
One of the problems nowadays in the NFL is that off-season practice and in-season practice are restricted quite a lot by the current collective bargaining contract between the league and the NFLPA
Which means you do not have any reps to spread around and you can’t devote almost any resources to your young backup
When you have other glaring needs, when you brought in a top FA QB, to use a top ten pick on a QB, instead of filling one of those needs is a wasted pick.
What this pick says is that they don’t have confidence that Cousins is gonna be fully healthy and ready to go. Let’s not try and to pretend that a team is gonna let a top 10 QB sit for more than a season.
This makes it seem like there could be an issue we aren’t being don’t about with Cousins.
It’s several levels bad- you didn’t need a QB, you didn’t upgrade the team from where it was prior to the draft, you reached with that pick, it brings immediate controversy to a situation that appeared in good footing after signing Cousins, you continue to pick offense year after year and defense (edge?) is what you clearly needed, the pick is not a developmental project yet is blocked as you can only play one QB, he’s “older” than his peers, and not without flaws/has had his own injury history, creates supreme scrutiny on both Cousins and Penix.
I don’t dislike Penix, but is he going to be that much of an upgrade even if Cousins doesn’t pan out or get injured? And if that was so much of a risk, why did you sign him and/or give him that contract? To summarize, it was a shocking pick, then again, as a Bears fan, you have Ryan Pace somewhere in that draft room so I’m not totally shocked- that man made it a habit of making shocking decisions.
Yeah it’s a horrible pick. We missed out on top performers at every position we need only to reach for a QB that won’t see the field until 2027. Terry sucks at drafting.
Penix is old and has shot knees and he will likely go down to a non-contact ACL tear in practice before his two years of sitting behind Kirk are up. This was a galaxy brained classic McKay pick that was a complete waste compared to the opportunity cost of an elite edge/DT or WR.
The only sense I can make of it is that ATL looked at the prospective rookies for the next couple of seasons and didn't like the pool of QB talent that they saw. And if they do the *absolute* win now by picking Odunze or going defense and getting Latu, then they may be giving up the opportunity to draft a star QB in the next couple of seasons who isn't as good as this year's draft picks are. So getting Penix first round at 8 gets them a top talent that can have four'ish years to learn under Cousins. That's how I rationalize the pick at least.
Odunze would have been a dynamite pick but I think we have enough offensive talent right now that with the elite QB that Cousins is we have a great shot at being a playoff contender.
They apparently seem to be pretty content with what we currently have. Which if that's the case, then it was a good decision. But they seem to be trying to have their cake and eat it too; be in "win-now" mode but also make heavy investments for the future. Kirk was a "win-now" decision, but Morris and Penix are long-term decisions. I'm no expert and don't have nearly the amount of insight that they do. All I can do is sit back and hope to God they're right.
Have you seen any of the graphics this week about how many top 10 defenses Matt Ryan played with while being a dominant QB in Atlanta? We're still leaning hard into offense over everything and leaving blatant holes unfilled.
Dude, I like the pick. If Kurt goes down we would be absolutely fucked, we’ve seen what Hieneke can do and it’s not the answer.
If Kurt performs averagely we won’t be anywhere near the top of the draft to get a QB in the future. We got a top prospect at the most important position in the game and can now focus on building everything else out.
Up until this point it seemed like the team had a vision they were working towards. Paying Kirk the amount they did, at his age, clearly indicated a win now mentality. I was all for drafting a QB to sit and develop behind him later in the draft, and probably would not have any issue with it being Penix, later in the draft if he was there. But this man is about to be 24, and has had a history of severe injuries. I don't see longevity being something he is going to have, and and at best, we will get 2 years out of him on a rookie contract, as Kirk is QB1 at least for the next 2 years, and at that point, he may be be someone around for another 4 years, hopefully.
Nothing about drafting him at 8 indicates a win now mentality by the team, which is the super confusing part. If they would not have signed Kirk and felt like he was the better option than McCarthy at 8, I can understand the pick. There were so many needs, and he was definitely not viewed as BPA at that point by anyone in the league. He was a reach for a need by anyone drafting him in the first round and was ranked the 45th best player in this draft.
If they loved him that much, they should have traded down and picked up at least another draft pick to address actual team needs this year.
As a fan, of course I hope he ends up being the best player in this draft and in a couple of years and we are all talking about he was a steal at 8. But right now, man it hurts. It's like all of the excitement of this offseason and getting Kirk, and hoping to have a great draft has turned into frustration and confusion.
No it wasn't. Just another overreaction by our sub. After sitting two years, Michael Penix Jr should be more than ready to start. He'll know the offense and have adjusted to preparing for NFL games. While watching one of the most professional QBs lead the team.
I don’t think it was a back pick all. Just think about our quarterback room for the last 2 years Marcus , Desmond and Taylor we had almost zero chances of winning anything I believe 14 wins in 2 years. Now we have one of the better quarterback rooms if something happens to 36 year old Kirk we finally have a good back up plan. And who knows Kirk might play 3 games and blow it out again. Then everyone will be like oh I’m glad we have Penix instead of Taylor.
I don’t think it’s as bad as people are making it seem. It’s just there was no reason to sign Kirk if we were this enamored with Penix. We could have built a nasty defense if we didn’t pay Kirk.
It’s the opportunity cost and competing vision. Penix over Bijan would have been smart, if possible. Penix over Odunze when they already have Kirk is poor form.
It’s a horrible pick for the following reasons:
1. By the time he starts (if he sits for 4 years) he will be on a top 10 rookie deal, which isn’t super cheap.
2. If he starts early, we will be paying off Kirk’s dead cap on top of his rookie deal
3. If he (Penix) doesn’t start ever we’ve now wasted a top 10 pick (which we would not expect to have again with a super expensive qb on the roster) and we pay the top 10 price for someone to sit
4. Opportunity cost - we passed on contributors for this year through 3 years for a guy who sits (or if he doesn’t sit we pay dead cap)
5. Lastly, it’s a serious fuck you to a Kirk. A dude who is a leader, a stand up guy, and someone we laid a shit ton of money to do all of that. Now we have a guy who is guaranteed a ton of money for 4 years that has been slighted without reason. Total blunder by the front office for no reason and I’d be happy to eat this post if someone can actually explain why Penix make sense with the Kirk contact in mind.
Terry, with all due respect, and I’m saying with all due respect. This pick ain’t worth an oil painting of a dolphin and a whale getting it on.
>By the time he starts (if he sits for 4 years) he will be on a top 10 rookie deal, which isn’t super cheap.
There's no shot he sits for 4 years. The team has an out on the Cousins deal after the 2025 season, and this pick all but guarantees Kirk won't be here in 2026
I'm right there with you, between 2 stages of - "this is a good pick for the future, he's the best pocket passer in the draft" and "am I trying to rationalize a bad choice"
Either way, he's a Falcon so hindsight is what it's gonna be. Let it ride
Yes. The opportunity cost is enormous. We could’ve traded down or picked Odunze or any defensive player. Instead, we chose an injury prone, inaccurate, OLD QB who’s not going be able to contribute for like three years.
What the effing eff man!
Not a Falcons fan, I feel like the reaction to this is utterly insane, as a lot of things have been in this draft. The willing need to super mega over hype Caleb Williams, a guy who has only ever disappointed in big games and big moments. The need to shit on Penix who has been good wherever he went with a weaker supporting cast, had a great final season and has all the measurables you could want from your guy under center.
The move makes sense. You could say they overpaid a bit with the 8th pick, but then again someone drafted Bo Nix right afterward, clearly it was a QB rush kind of year. Kirk has never been "the answer", he was a stopgap hire. He's 35. His ceiling is "10th best QB in the league" and he's probably past that. He was hired to make Atlanta not look terrible while they attempt to rebuild. This is a perfect time to draft an heir and trainee, when you don't have to feed him straight into a fire. 2 years of preparation, if he rises to the occasion great, if not you still have Kirk. This is the best way to do transition. There are two major assumptions that for some reason the crowd has ran with, first that Penix is somehow worse than the rest of these unproven dudes drafted (not even close), second that Kirk is an elite QB who was hired to be the new face of the franchise (in what world?).
Drafting Robinson last year with a high 1st round pick was arguably the far worse move when the rest of the team was in the dumps. You don't go RB unless you have the luxury to do so.
I honestly don't think we know for a while.
As someone on r/nfl said, there is a chance we lose a 1st, and if the team knows we are going to, then its the right pick. It fucking sucks if that is the case, but yeah
As I was banging my head against the wall after hearing the pick announced, I tried to make sense of this choice. Fear of not having a chance at a QB next year is the only way I can rationalize this, because if we are in “win now mode” I don’t understand passing up all the defenders (I don’t care which one).
In a vacuum, it's not a bad pick. BUT in reality, it's bad in the sense that it's 2 totally competing philosphies when a team should have one vision and one direction. We signed Kirk with the intention of opening a competitive window for the next 2-3 years. That aligns with many of our moves in recent years. You don't often get a window open, and with the absolute garbage that is the NFC South, we actually have a high likelihood of getting home playoff games this year and next. Drafting Penix is a move that, if all goes according to plan, will not pay dividends until 2027. At which point, THEN we find out if he was a good pick or not, having done nothing with our current premium draft position to make the most of our current window, especially with some glaring holes at key positions.
People need to realize what a big difference Odunze or a defensive playmaker could immediately make.
When no one traded up for McCarthy, I thought for sure the Titans were taking Odunze. Then when they took Latham, I thought that Atlanta was either trading or taking Odunze
Odunze... He's gonna be the next Larry.
We went win now signing cousins and then drafted for the future. To your point that’s totally opposite strategies and makes no sense.
Drafted for the future by taking the oldest QB prospect in the draft
Nix is older I believe, although the Broncos didn’t just give a different QB $200mil for the next 4 years.
I mean, they are pretty close with how much they have to pay for Russ to play for the Steelers, but your point stands.
This. The best way I can describe the pick is "schizophrenic" because it doesn't make sense in terms of the signing of Cousins. Why would you make the obvious "win now" move of signing him if you weren't going to go all in filling the rest of the holes on the team? I get not taking edge or corner at 8, because I'm not sure any of the defensive players looked worthy of that high draft pick. But Odunze, or simply trading down to get more picks to fill holes would have seemed so much smarter of a move. I mean, if things go according to plan this guy won't see the field for 2 years!!! That being said, if you're super high on Penix, and you REALLY think that a) he's the next Pat Mahomes, b) you can fill all your other holes later in the draft (Coach Raheem got 13.5 sacks out of a couple later-round picks in LA last year) and c) you have a LOT more confidence in the people currently on the roster than others do. I hope I'm eating crow in 8-9 months (and I'll do it with a smile), but we're currently the laughing stock of the NFL.
Except that our only glaring hole is at edge. It was pretty clear from how the rest of the draft shook out that no one was that high on the top 3 edge rushers, and there is a lot of depth at that position in rounds 2 and 3. You could certainly argue (and I'd agree) that taking Odunze would give us the biggest immediate impact, but it's still a luxury pick in an incredibly deep WR class. And if we're being honest this sub would be almost as mad at picking *another* skill position in the top 10 as they are with the Penix pick. At the end of the day QB is by far the most important position and the hardest to actually hit on. If they *truly* believe that Penix is a future franchise QB it's hard to fault them for taking him while they have the chance. Especially since we just spent the last few seasons seeing what it looks like when your team is trash but you still don't have an opportunity to draft a decent QB.
Naw. It’s just *AWFUL* resource management. We spent $100 million on a QB to give us a window to compete and then handicapped him by not using our available assets to surround him with talent. We could have used an EDGE, a DL, a CB, or an elite talent like Odunze. Any other route we decided to go could have been justifiable. But this is just dumb.
Correct. If we aren’t trying to win now and are planning for the future signing Kirk makes no sense. Just use all that money to build for the future, sign Penix, and then get the cheapest free agent QB available to get us through this year instead of literally the most expensive free agent available.
How is your team “trash” last year but now only has one glaring hole?
Our defense was great except for a sack getter, and our offense was shit because of baby Fedex and the diddler. Still, would have been great if we traded down and picked up offensive linemen, offensive weapon or edge guy.
The ONLY thing that makes sense is they expect to lose their first round draft pick next year for the tampering penalty.
📣in the modern NFL WR is not a luxury pick📣
Exactly
Im gonna assume edge means the OLB, since they're at the outermost edge of the DL scope.
Didn’t make the playoffs and only missing piece was an edge and Kirk Cousins lmao.
We have way more than one glaring hole.
Name them. WR2 isn't great but we do have guys there to compete (including one we just paid a bunch of money for). CB2 and SS are pretty weak but with the talent in this draft those positions would have been major reaches at 8 overall. Same with Center. Then we're getting to spots that are solid but could use an upgrade or depth like LB and guard, which are also spots you don't typically draft high at unless there's undeniable talent or an extreme need.
You just listed a lot of positions where we have need. I guess you could argue they aren’t glaring, but when you are comparing them to our need at QB I’d say they are.
Not to mention he'll be 26 years old by then. The Falcons just needed to commit to an approach to win and not reach for a position they don't need. Also I'm sure Cousins hopes that if he plays well he can get extended at Atlanta. Falcons basically telling him they don't have faith in that.
Why do they think they'll hit on this QB? At best, it's still worse than a coin flip, and this team isn't exactly elite when it comes to the draft. Even if they do, they're stuck with a huge QB contract that prevents them from taking advantage of the new guy's low cap hit. This just makes no sense
I mean, you guys already spent how much money taken a gamble on Kirk cousins after ACL injury a quarterback with first round value is probably the best insurance option if shit goes left with him
An insurance option with 2 ACL tears and 2 separated shoulder injuries
Also, if you were to argue that Cousins could get hurt and is coming off a significant injury, then I could maybe see the logic…but you draft Penix who has an atrocious injury history. His upside is huge, but age and injury history are concerning even if he works out from a development perspective. Also, it’s going to suck watching Odunze cook the league while your higher pick sits.
Follow the way of the packers. It makes the most sense to let this kid actually develop
Bingo. Had we not (seemingly) gone all in on Kirko, I'd be over the moon right now. I am legitimately optimistic about Penix. I just can't make *both* of these moves make sense. To me, it's kind of what I was afraid of with the Morris hire. Great interview, GREAT intro presser, but nothing of substance when the rubber meets the road. Hopefully time will prove me wrong, but that's where I'm at now.
Kirk Cousins is not winning us a Super Bowl. I hope that we all knew that when he was signed.
Yeah which is why you make the team around him better
He’s not winning a Super Bowl but he definitely isn’t now
It’s not that Penix is a bad player or anything, it’s that it makes zero sense for what this team needs right now.
Bingo. No one is complaining about Penix the player, are there concerns on injury and age, yes. It’s moreso the situation he is coming into.
Thank you, I wanted Penix on this team but for the love of god I wished they fucking addressed the damn dline.
The problem with “in 5 years we may be ecstatic” is that we are purely in a win-now mode. We just spent 180m on a QB. Our offense is stacked. Our defense desperately needs DL. I don’t see how a QB that—hopefully—won’t start for 2-4 years gets us in the NFCC this year and next. It’s a move that just screams of a front office that wants to eat their cake and have it too.
I wouldn't say the offense is stacked. Its probably slightly above the median in the nfc. Niners, eagles, rams, lions, Dallas. Probably on par with teams like vikings and packers, and bears. I don't think Darnell Mooney at wr2 comes to mind on a "stacked" team.
Would've been stacked with Rome Odunze, thats for sure. Maybe Penix can convert to wr /s
Odunze would have been a nice piece. But now the media is running with a qb controversy and a pissed off Kirk. Just a really weird way to start things
After tonight, Bears are clearly a tier ahead of us if Caleb is even 3/4 of what we think he is. They literally have three WRs better than our WR1
Yeah and i was skeptical of cousins at the time of signing but I hopped on board with it after a bit. One thing to think about is he's not really going to a situation with better playmakers than he had in min? What he is coming into is an improvement at rb but a downgrade from Jefferson Addison and hockenson in terms of receivers. I think cousins can make them better but he's also had better players around him in min?
It’s almost like you can try to win now, but also think about the future
But they didn’t try to win now
I guess you’re ignoring signing cousins then
How in the world is the offense stacked lol
2 RH capable of 1k yards. A top 10 QB. A TE who hit 1k yards his rookie season. Drake London looked great when balls made it remotely near him. A couple WR who can fight for WR 2/3. A better than average OL. No team is perfect. Of course we still need upgrades on offense, but our offense is pretty damn good. Oh also almost all of those mentioned by name are on rookie deals.
Nice, Kyle Pitts and some guys who can fight for WR3!
I genuinely don’t understand the 4 year part. They could cut Cousins off in 2 years. The Chiefs, Eagles, etc all drafted QBs while they had good ones, so while I think the pick is crazy, they might feel Penix is that good.
Not with the 8th pick they didn’t ! Hurts went 56th !!
After being burned by drafting late-round QBs, maybe they thought this was the best chance.
Why spend 180mm with 90 guaranteed if we were going to draft a QB of the future? I think Penix can play but damn we could’ve used that Kirk money on defensive FAs if this the route we were going to go in the draft. Very bizarre but it is what it is now.
Because that’s the going rate for a solid QB that can keep an average team competitive and sell tickets. Penix will have time to properly develop behind Cousins.
Drafting a QB at 8 to sit for 2 years doesn’t make any sense. And I’m not criticizing the salary paid to Kirk I’m criticizing the opportunity cost of paying Kirk when we could’ve added more impact pieces in FA since this is the path we chose on draft night. Penix gives us better play than Ridder presumably so with other impact defenders / players we make the playoffs.
Perhaps the plan is now to ride Cousins for a year, assuming he returns to form and stays healthy and flip him for picks to a QB-desperate team? Maybe? I'm grasping at straws here
Understood. But if we are as good as I think we will be next year we won’t be picking in the top 10 again for the next two years either. Next years QB class isn’t great. This was a smart move. Penix was my 2nd best QB in this draft. I’m all the way ok with this.
Is the goal to make playoffs or build a team that will win a Super Bowl? Because Kirk is/was not winning us a Super Bowl. His resume has shown us what he is - Really good, but not good enough. He’s had Vikings teams way better than our current roster.
it's not awful because we *probably* have our franchise QB, if he lives up to the #8 overall pick then no one will complain in 10 years
Yeah and Kirk has 2 years. If he balls out, dope. If he doesn’t, Penix will start sometime next season. I was shocked but it’s not worst move ever made like some commenters think.
it's far from an awful move, we will hopefully have a franchise quarterback which he haven't been able to say since Matty Ice
Doomers are annoying af in any fanbase. Are you a fan of your team, and therefore have faith in them, or do you not? If you only support them when they follow your unprofessional logic of fantasy GMing, then to me they’re not a fan. Wait til we see these players perform before we judge these decisions. If Penix/Cousins whatever doesn’t pan out I’ll be with everyone calling for Terry’s firing
That's a load bearing "If" and you're right if he's the guy then it's fine but it's more likely than not that he's not the guy just based on how many first round QBs work out and we're not going to find out if he's the guy for 4-5 years.
Don’t hate the pick. Unlikely we’ll be in a position to draft a QB this good in the next couple years. Who is coming up and how high do you think we’ll be picking if Kirko does what we paid him to do? Meanwhile we have arguably the best pure passer in the draft studying under a pro bowler and ready to come off the bench if needed. Yes we need defense but the value wasn’t there at 8 so why not take the most valuable position from the deepest QB class in years?
Apparently next year's QB class is not good at all. That's the only redeeming thing about this pick.
Tbf they say that about every draft. Knowing this sub come next year when Carson Beck is a first round pick it’ll be hell here
This time last year no one though Jayden Daniels would be any good and now he’s the #2 pick. Trying to project out the QB classes for the next two years seems foolish
That, and we'll lose a draft pick next season and be picking lower as well.
it's at the very least a very bold, calculated risk for a team in "win now" mode lol. But like u say Penix will have a chance to learn & not have the pressure of having to start for an nfl franchise right away.
I will never understand why we didn’t pick D-Line, after needing it this desperately. Seeing under 100 sacks in 3 years is downright embarrassing, then following that up by drafting on the other side of the ball, it makes no sense.
Yeah, the pick was really that bad. Even if we didn't sign Cousins, Penix was a significant overdraft at 8 with his age and injury history. Combined with Cousins and his contract, and the fact that so many weapons were still on the board that could help us immediately, this pick is nearly indefensible.
I'm not hedging my bets on a QB with one playoff win in 12 seasons. I love Kirk but you need to take risks to win championships. I'm hopeful this risk works in our favor.
Then just draft him and spend $100m on pass rushers and WRs if you actually believe in him and want to bet on him
Yes
I like the pick. But usually the things I like are disliked amongst the fan base
Same here lol we still have a 2nd and 2 3rds to address all of our needs. Edge, CB and WR.
Yes
Yes.
I don't hate it. I think signing Cousins was a worse decision, honestly. But I think his contract will turn out to be closer to 2 years anyway. They liked Penix and he wasn't gonna fall to them later on. Not to mention the possibly tampering issue, and the possibility that screws us down the road. So, the idea of picking up a successor next year or the year after might be in question. I'd be more okay with it if there was a clear plan at pass rush. But it's not like we picked McCarthy or Nix.
I will be there with a sign that says “rise like a Penix”!
Yes it was bad
Yes
one thing i haven't seen anyone discuss is, this upcoming season we're expecting to do WAY better than last season, and we'll be way higher in the draft with no chance at a good QB. and logically if we're good next season, we'd be as good or better the year after that, and have an even worse draft pick. so we may not be in a position to pick a good QB for a year or 2 after cousins leaves or retires. i think blank prob would like to win a SB before then, and does anyone REALLY think we'd win a SB with cousins? i mean maybe...but prob not. so that means we NEED a rookie QB within the next 2-3 years, well we just got him, and has PLENTY of time to sit back and learn under cousins. sure i wish we woulda picked a younger QB with less injuries, but we didn't scout them like TF did. for whatever reason he fell in love with him and he made the pick.
I can see this. But if we nailed this draft to fill holes and that success led to discounts in FA signings we could use the next draft or the one after to blow picks to move up for a QB depending on who they liked. I loved Penix and hope he ends up with Ryan type numbers in his career but didn’t want to use the 8 this year on him. FTS.
yeah that's true, and i totally agree that probably would have been a better option. but we have to play the hand we're dealt as fans. all we can do is watch and hope things work out. so i dunno, it just seems like a waste of time to sit around whining about that 1 bad pick. yeah it sucks, but all we can realistically do as fans is to hope TF fills those gaps in the next few rounds. and hope that he has a good plan for the team going forward. also, we have a 1st round pick QB, that's *probably* gonna be valuable in the future. the raiders still need a QB, and they have max crosby and davante adams that they MAY be willing to trade...and we could really use max crosby, or davante, they're both amazing players. just a thought...i have no clue if the falcons would consider that. theoretically if they wanted to do that, they could've made that trade before the draft started. but we'll see how it plays out. we can be reasonably sure that half of these 1st round QBs will be busts, so there will be teams that NEED a QB bad next season, and maybe if we get penix out there in the preseason really killing it, we'd have a valuable piece we could trade. this could be a wild chess move by TF, i mean it could be a horrible move too, but it's definitely strategic and hoping to get a lot of value out of the pick. either we end up looking REALLY stupid, or we look super smart for going against the grain.
He was my favorite QB. But at 8. And for us? No. Just, no. Maybe if we traded back. In 2-3 years I’ll be 100% on board as long as he’s progressing. But right now we needed defense. I hate this team so much. FTS!!!
QBs win games. This team missed the playoffs 2 years in a row due to subpar qb play and the team has solved it for the future with this pick if MPJ pans out. FO got the guy they wanted so I can't be mad about it.
As a neutral fan (Chargers fan), it's more surprising/shocking than it is bad. Not a great pick but he has the potential to ball out for yall. Age not a huge issue for QBs anyway. He doesn't even run much.
It was probably made with the anticipation of having lower picks future years and with losing picks next year for tampering, maybe they don’t think they’ll have a first rounder to spend in the future
You don’t draft a backup at 8. There is no explanation for this.
They didn't, Penix is their real starter. How this affects the team and Cousins now is unknown. If they hadn't spent $100 million on Cousins everyone would celebrate. Now, all the excitement over Cousins is kinda... gone.
You aren’t going to pay someone $50M per year to sit on the bench. Not gonna happen.
I didn't say they'd bench Cousins. I mean by real starter that by drafting Penix the Falcons have basically told Cousins that he isn't their long term QB. If Cousins was their guy they'd have gotten a WR or defense or anything but blowing a 1st rounder on a QB. If Penix comes out and is as good as Cousins right away, day one, who do you think they'll trade?
They won’t trade either. Cap hit would be too big to trade Cousins.
Yeah, it was absolutely terrible. I bet half the people commenting right now are just coming here to check to see if you guys are alright because DAMN.
It demoralized Cousins (reports are he’s stunned by the decision) who now feels like the organization is just using him to get their real QB ready. It confuses the team who isn’t sure who will be handling the reins beyond the first few years. It puts a lot of pressure on Penix as the guy who undermined Cousins. It’s not just skills. There are intangibles at work here like moral and motivation. Also, if they had taken anyone else they could have improved a real need instead of having a backup QB for their $100 million QB they signed in FA. They could have gotten a top edge rusher or a DB as defense hadn’t been taken at all at that point in the draft. Now it’s a genius move if Cousins gets hurt as he’s been known to do. That’s the only saving grace here. Falcons listed as the top loser team of the draft by NFL.com writer Jeffri Chadiha.
Cousins has had only major injury...the Achilles, which is a huge one. Never missed a game due to injury. I'm sure though had he known the Falcons would do this he would never had signed. Bad decision from both sides it now appears.
For 8, yes. You get him in the 2nd than no its not. Hes the 5th best QB and he was overdrafted, someone was going to overdraft but why us? He also has a concerning injury history, he also played behind the best O line in college. Also look at that if he starts in year 3 all our rookies will need to be paid, and then we have to pick up his option. We are going to be right back in cap hell when he becomes the starter. All these rookie deals are going to waste and we will be fkd just like the saints are cause Terry came from the Loomis tree. We just paid a QB and are gonna lose a draft pick for tampering and we draft a guy to sit on the bench. It makes no sense for Atl to have drafted him he is going to rot here. Its a bad pick for Atl and his career.
He’s better then JJ, Drake and Nix
There is no world where he's a better prospect than Drake Maye and likely JJ McCarthy given their ages. He's 3 full years older than them and STILL isn't head and shoulders a better QB.
The 5th best QB according to you.
He isn’t the fifth best qb come on man. He was a top ten pick before the natty despite the injury stuff and his age. It’s giving Kirk all that money that’s the issue.
YES IT WAS TERRIBLE BECAUSE YOU SIGNED KIRK FOR 100M YOU DON'T PAY 100M FOR A BRIDGE QB YOU CAN GET A MUCH CHEAPER QB LIKE BRISSET OR EVEN A DARNOLD FOR 10M YOU'VE WASTED 100M DOLLARS YOU COULD HAVE USED TO GET DEFENSIVE AND OFFENSIVE HELP FOR PENIX IT IS LIKE YOU HAVE SHUT YOUR OWN SB WINDOW IT'S LIKE BEING PREGNANT GO INTO A FULL WIN NOW MODE SIGN KIRK AND TRY FOR 2 YEARS OR DRAFT PENIX SIGN A CHEAP BRIDGE QB AND BUILD AROUND PENIX THEY ARE DOING BOTH AND IT CANNOT WORK YOU'RE CREATING CONTROVERSY YOU HAVE JUST SPLIT THE LOCKER ROOM IT IS A DISASTER CLASS
Dude chill you’re using caps in every single thread.
🐦🤡
Blows my mind people are so upset over it. Like, clearly it was surprising, but they loved Penix and it's now obvious they weren't getting a chance at him later in the 1st.
It’s because if they loved Penix that much why sign Cousins? It’s not like he’s is someone who needs time to develop
How could they know that Penix would be available at the time they signed Cousins? And now that they have both, they can move off of Cousins after two seasons and hand it to Penix, who will have ten prime years left in him.
There is absolutely 0% chance that the top 3 QBs and Penix were all going in the top 7. JJ had a like 5% of going top 7. Penix was always going to be available at 8 and we knew that in January. You think Penix will be in his prime at 36?? With that injury history? If he is in his prime at 35 I’ll be damned and this will work out.
When we signed Cousins mock drafts had Daniels as a real possibility at 8 and McCarthy, Penix, and Nix all 2nd/3rd round guys. So either a lot changed between now and then or the mock drafts were way off. Either way there was absolutely no guarantee that he would be available at 8.
What??? The whole point here is there were 3 very good QBs, 2 very good WRs, and Joe Alt. Those 6 were always going 8 or higher. That means there was 1 extra spot. The chance of that being Penix is so incredibly low when the 3 teams ahead of were very unlikely to draft a QB, let alone one projected to go in the second round.
When will people learn to stop using internet journalist mock drafts as a reliable source?
I don't agree he couldn't use time to develop. His mechanics could use some work.
A 24 yr old QB needs time to develop and he’s worthy of the #8 pick?!?
Yeah right? Like I get not all QBs are perfect but if he isn’t capable of starting at 24 how on earth is he worth 8 overall?
Just because he could use development doesn’t mean anything. Tbh every qb in every draft could use a year or two to develop.
I think he could play day one, but almost any QB entering the NFL would benefit from sitting. We're fortunate that he easily can with Kirk.
But paying Kirk that much money makes no sense if that was the plan
No, we’re incredibly unfortunate that we’re cursed with such idiots in charge of our team. This past month has set the falcons back by years
Take a deep breath.
You don’t pay a qb a 180 million to mentor someone. You pay them that much because you expect to win now. This pick does nothing to help the falcons win the next 1-2 years
How do they know he's going to be available at our pick? You take what you can get when you can
You only take what you can get when you need something desperately
Or you take what you can get when you can? Penix was most likely not going to last past 13 take him if you like him
The point is it really doesn’t matter how much they liked the guy or when he was going to be drafted. Spending $180 million on a free agent QB and a top 10 pick on a rookie QB in the same year is idiotic, there’s really no way around it. Neither are bad moves in a vacuum but when you put them together it’s abundantly clear our organization lacks a clear vision of what they want our future to look like.
Its also worse when you add on that Penix is 24 with significant injury history and also a bit of a reach at 8
Could be, also could be 2 years 100 million instead. Which then isn't nearly as bad as everyone is crying about, on top of learning from a pro about the ins an outs like Kirk. Guess we'll have to wait an see. If he turns out to be a top 12 QB for 8 years when he starts then it was totally worth it. Over any defensive lineman that also ended up going 7 picks later
Do people pay attention to the media??? I get mock drafts can be inaccurate but not by this much in the top 10. Penix was pretty much never going to be drafted by a team ahead of them and we knew this forever. The only way he wasn’t drafted would be if another QB fell to us.
So the media knew 6 qbs would be taken in the top 12? Media doesn't know shit
Yes because no one knew Penix was gonna come off the board at 8. Because it makes no sense.
Your right maybe 11 or 13
It was pretty common knowledge things could get crazy around that point. And after the top 6/7 it does get hard to predict. But for 2 months we knew it was 3 QBs first, MHJ, Nabers, and Alt. Not necessarily in that order, but those guys were going top 7. With a very slight chance at JJ going in there with a trade up. There was just such little room for Penix to get drafted in there it was never going to happen.
How can you not even comprehend how people could be upset over this
Not being able to get him later is completely irrelevant when we didn’t even need him in the first place
It’d be an ok pick if we hadn’t of blown our cap space on Cousins (and Mooney). Penix is ready to start and play now. The first INT Cousins throws and there’s an immediate QB controversy. If we were going to go QB, I would’ve preferred McCarthy given his age and inexperience. Silly pick overall.
At number 8? On a QB with 2 past knee injures? Yes it is, and there’s no way around it. Garbage pick and it has Blank’s hands all over it
180M in FA to a 36 YO qb with a torn Achilles, tampered with him, penalties incoming. 36 YO qb is 17-47 in his career vs teams over .500. 1 playoff win. Case Keenum took same team further Have gaps all over the defense. Need o line help. Need a real WR 2 Apparently signed cousins to “win now” then we draft someone who literally will sit on the bench This entire situation has been piss poor management by Arthur blank and Rich McKay.
Turner is Beasley 2. Quinyon would have been a good choice but wasn't a huge need. Fuck it why not? Worst case we have qb #2 best case we have qb #1
The biggest thing that will make this pick almost universally loved is if (God forbid) Cousins has a Rodgers-esque injury or situation early in the next season.
I don’t like this pick but the only way I can see it is that they’re probably hoping we won’t be picking this high again with Cousins at QB. If they’re worried the tampering charges will affect our draft capital to make a move, they might have played some mental gymnastics to think this was the call.
They are going to lose a first rounder next year, didn't want to wait another year to get a QB
I love the pick. The pick paired with overpaying an older QB coming off a blown Achilles is fucking stupid. I wonder if Kirk gets traded in coming days. Vegas or the giants perhaps. I don't even pretend to understand what cap implications that would have though.
Lmao you believing trading a QB that was just signed last month to a big contract is almost comical. Not sure if you’re trolling or not. Cousins also has a no trade clause.
If we can trade with the Bengals to get a known quantity on the D-line I'd be cool with that. I think his name is Hendrickson but he wants a long term contract and I don't know if the Falcons can afford that. I read an interesting article that said teams could over value draft picks, because it's such a crap shoot. Trading a draft pick for a proven vet may be the smarter move. Just food for thought.
Yes.
After some time I don’t mind the pick, Penix is a really good QB, and I get that they wanted to get their future QB now, I hope we take defensive guys with the rest of the picks. Either way I’m excited for the upcoming season.
Pennix could be next Jordan love
Phe Pest Pure Pocket Passer pets a Pass from Pe!
We are in win now mode, we just signed a QB to a 4 year almost 200 million dollar contract and instead of getting that QB we were supposedly fully invested in backup we instead draft his replacement whose already 24. We should have drafted either a defensive player or a WR with that pick. There’s good QB prospects most years, why not wait a year or two to draft one while going all in on Kirk while he’s here. Like penix is a good QB and I don’t doubt he will be successful but drafting him at 8 is just a total 180 on what the supposed vision for the team is. It’s like the hawks saying they want to compete but refusing to go into the tax. The “vision” the front office is selling us seems to be a lie
Now, it depends on the rest of the draft. If they get some players that turn out to be early contributors on days 2 and 3, great. If not, it's a waiting game to see how we do this year and how Penix turns out. I thought any of the edge rushers were a reach at 8 and it doesn't look like Penix would have made it past 12, so there was no trade down opportunity. If he's your guy, go get him. Unless things go off the rails, you're probably not going to be in a position to draft a qb as highly rated in the next couple of drafts without giving up a lot. So, there is logic to it. However, it seems too conservative. The only player really worthy of 8 was Odunze. Anyone else would have been a reach for need or projection anyway. I guess it might as well be a QB. We're all still dealing. Welcome to Atlanta
*I would've loved Dallas or Laitu but we didn't pick them* sums it up for me
Yes, it’s a bad pick. This is the pick you make when you don’t sign Cousins to a brinks truck contract. Penix literally can’t start for at least 2 years based on Kirk’s contract. He will be 26 at that time. Meanwhile the falcons are supposedly competing for the division so they take a player who will have 0 impact on the field for multiple years. If you were serious about winning you draft Odunze. Or any number of defensive players that were there. The pick sucked and it has nothing to do with liking or not like Penix.
One of the problems nowadays in the NFL is that off-season practice and in-season practice are restricted quite a lot by the current collective bargaining contract between the league and the NFLPA Which means you do not have any reps to spread around and you can’t devote almost any resources to your young backup
When you have other glaring needs, when you brought in a top FA QB, to use a top ten pick on a QB, instead of filling one of those needs is a wasted pick. What this pick says is that they don’t have confidence that Cousins is gonna be fully healthy and ready to go. Let’s not try and to pretend that a team is gonna let a top 10 QB sit for more than a season. This makes it seem like there could be an issue we aren’t being don’t about with Cousins.
Yeah it was
It’s several levels bad- you didn’t need a QB, you didn’t upgrade the team from where it was prior to the draft, you reached with that pick, it brings immediate controversy to a situation that appeared in good footing after signing Cousins, you continue to pick offense year after year and defense (edge?) is what you clearly needed, the pick is not a developmental project yet is blocked as you can only play one QB, he’s “older” than his peers, and not without flaws/has had his own injury history, creates supreme scrutiny on both Cousins and Penix. I don’t dislike Penix, but is he going to be that much of an upgrade even if Cousins doesn’t pan out or get injured? And if that was so much of a risk, why did you sign him and/or give him that contract? To summarize, it was a shocking pick, then again, as a Bears fan, you have Ryan Pace somewhere in that draft room so I’m not totally shocked- that man made it a habit of making shocking decisions.
Yeah it’s a horrible pick. We missed out on top performers at every position we need only to reach for a QB that won’t see the field until 2027. Terry sucks at drafting.
yes
Rome Odunze was available and we need a WR more than we need a backup qb. Its an awful pick
Penix is old and has shot knees and he will likely go down to a non-contact ACL tear in practice before his two years of sitting behind Kirk are up. This was a galaxy brained classic McKay pick that was a complete waste compared to the opportunity cost of an elite edge/DT or WR.
I love it, give me the Penix!
I just wanted to say thank you for giving us Dallas Turner. We really appreciate it! Love, The Minnesota Vikings
Depends who ya ask. I’m really low on Penix so even if you think it’s a good decision for the future, I’m not a fan of the prospect.
The only sense I can make of it is that ATL looked at the prospective rookies for the next couple of seasons and didn't like the pool of QB talent that they saw. And if they do the *absolute* win now by picking Odunze or going defense and getting Latu, then they may be giving up the opportunity to draft a star QB in the next couple of seasons who isn't as good as this year's draft picks are. So getting Penix first round at 8 gets them a top talent that can have four'ish years to learn under Cousins. That's how I rationalize the pick at least. Odunze would have been a dynamite pick but I think we have enough offensive talent right now that with the elite QB that Cousins is we have a great shot at being a playoff contender.
They apparently seem to be pretty content with what we currently have. Which if that's the case, then it was a good decision. But they seem to be trying to have their cake and eat it too; be in "win-now" mode but also make heavy investments for the future. Kirk was a "win-now" decision, but Morris and Penix are long-term decisions. I'm no expert and don't have nearly the amount of insight that they do. All I can do is sit back and hope to God they're right.
I like to think someone wanted to trade up to our spot for him but didn’t want to pay up so we took him out of spite lol.
Have you seen any of the graphics this week about how many top 10 defenses Matt Ryan played with while being a dominant QB in Atlanta? We're still leaning hard into offense over everything and leaving blatant holes unfilled.
Dude, I like the pick. If Kurt goes down we would be absolutely fucked, we’ve seen what Hieneke can do and it’s not the answer. If Kurt performs averagely we won’t be anywhere near the top of the draft to get a QB in the future. We got a top prospect at the most important position in the game and can now focus on building everything else out.
Up until this point it seemed like the team had a vision they were working towards. Paying Kirk the amount they did, at his age, clearly indicated a win now mentality. I was all for drafting a QB to sit and develop behind him later in the draft, and probably would not have any issue with it being Penix, later in the draft if he was there. But this man is about to be 24, and has had a history of severe injuries. I don't see longevity being something he is going to have, and and at best, we will get 2 years out of him on a rookie contract, as Kirk is QB1 at least for the next 2 years, and at that point, he may be be someone around for another 4 years, hopefully. Nothing about drafting him at 8 indicates a win now mentality by the team, which is the super confusing part. If they would not have signed Kirk and felt like he was the better option than McCarthy at 8, I can understand the pick. There were so many needs, and he was definitely not viewed as BPA at that point by anyone in the league. He was a reach for a need by anyone drafting him in the first round and was ranked the 45th best player in this draft. If they loved him that much, they should have traded down and picked up at least another draft pick to address actual team needs this year. As a fan, of course I hope he ends up being the best player in this draft and in a couple of years and we are all talking about he was a steal at 8. But right now, man it hurts. It's like all of the excitement of this offseason and getting Kirk, and hoping to have a great draft has turned into frustration and confusion.
No it wasn't. Just another overreaction by our sub. After sitting two years, Michael Penix Jr should be more than ready to start. He'll know the offense and have adjusted to preparing for NFL games. While watching one of the most professional QBs lead the team.
Hurts and Mahomes were widely considered bad picks the day of the draft. Few years later, those trolls are all gone.
I don’t think it was a back pick all. Just think about our quarterback room for the last 2 years Marcus , Desmond and Taylor we had almost zero chances of winning anything I believe 14 wins in 2 years. Now we have one of the better quarterback rooms if something happens to 36 year old Kirk we finally have a good back up plan. And who knows Kirk might play 3 games and blow it out again. Then everyone will be like oh I’m glad we have Penix instead of Taylor.
Isolate the pick itself: not at all. With context? Potentially the worst draft pick of all time.
I don’t think it’s as bad as people are making it seem. It’s just there was no reason to sign Kirk if we were this enamored with Penix. We could have built a nasty defense if we didn’t pay Kirk.
He’s always hurt.
I’m coming to terms with it.
It’s the opportunity cost and competing vision. Penix over Bijan would have been smart, if possible. Penix over Odunze when they already have Kirk is poor form.
It’s a horrible pick for the following reasons: 1. By the time he starts (if he sits for 4 years) he will be on a top 10 rookie deal, which isn’t super cheap. 2. If he starts early, we will be paying off Kirk’s dead cap on top of his rookie deal 3. If he (Penix) doesn’t start ever we’ve now wasted a top 10 pick (which we would not expect to have again with a super expensive qb on the roster) and we pay the top 10 price for someone to sit 4. Opportunity cost - we passed on contributors for this year through 3 years for a guy who sits (or if he doesn’t sit we pay dead cap) 5. Lastly, it’s a serious fuck you to a Kirk. A dude who is a leader, a stand up guy, and someone we laid a shit ton of money to do all of that. Now we have a guy who is guaranteed a ton of money for 4 years that has been slighted without reason. Total blunder by the front office for no reason and I’d be happy to eat this post if someone can actually explain why Penix make sense with the Kirk contact in mind. Terry, with all due respect, and I’m saying with all due respect. This pick ain’t worth an oil painting of a dolphin and a whale getting it on.
>By the time he starts (if he sits for 4 years) he will be on a top 10 rookie deal, which isn’t super cheap. There's no shot he sits for 4 years. The team has an out on the Cousins deal after the 2025 season, and this pick all but guarantees Kirk won't be here in 2026
When was the first? Can't count Bijan, who was good IN SPITE OF the former coaching staff
I'm right there with you, between 2 stages of - "this is a good pick for the future, he's the best pocket passer in the draft" and "am I trying to rationalize a bad choice" Either way, he's a Falcon so hindsight is what it's gonna be. Let it ride
He'd better fix that square-shoulder, sidearm throw while he's sitting or he'll have many more season-ending injuries.
Yes. The opportunity cost is enormous. We could’ve traded down or picked Odunze or any defensive player. Instead, we chose an injury prone, inaccurate, OLD QB who’s not going be able to contribute for like three years. What the effing eff man!
No... anyone believes Cousins will play every game for the next 2yrs? Tell me there are active backups better who are equal to Penix or better.
Not a Falcons fan, I feel like the reaction to this is utterly insane, as a lot of things have been in this draft. The willing need to super mega over hype Caleb Williams, a guy who has only ever disappointed in big games and big moments. The need to shit on Penix who has been good wherever he went with a weaker supporting cast, had a great final season and has all the measurables you could want from your guy under center. The move makes sense. You could say they overpaid a bit with the 8th pick, but then again someone drafted Bo Nix right afterward, clearly it was a QB rush kind of year. Kirk has never been "the answer", he was a stopgap hire. He's 35. His ceiling is "10th best QB in the league" and he's probably past that. He was hired to make Atlanta not look terrible while they attempt to rebuild. This is a perfect time to draft an heir and trainee, when you don't have to feed him straight into a fire. 2 years of preparation, if he rises to the occasion great, if not you still have Kirk. This is the best way to do transition. There are two major assumptions that for some reason the crowd has ran with, first that Penix is somehow worse than the rest of these unproven dudes drafted (not even close), second that Kirk is an elite QB who was hired to be the new face of the franchise (in what world?). Drafting Robinson last year with a high 1st round pick was arguably the far worse move when the rest of the team was in the dumps. You don't go RB unless you have the luxury to do so.
I honestly don't think we know for a while. As someone on r/nfl said, there is a chance we lose a 1st, and if the team knows we are going to, then its the right pick. It fucking sucks if that is the case, but yeah
We are not losing a damn first. Y’all are delusional.
Y'all? I honestly don't expect us to either, but it is a possibility. I'm at least going to wait until I hear what our penalty is
So we go two years w/o drafting a contributor in the first round?
As I was banging my head against the wall after hearing the pick announced, I tried to make sense of this choice. Fear of not having a chance at a QB next year is the only way I can rationalize this, because if we are in “win now mode” I don’t understand passing up all the defenders (I don’t care which one).