DETROIT — With the 8th pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, the Atlanta Falcons selected Washington quarterback Michael Penix, Jr. Yes, the Falcons needed a quarterback to shore up their long-term future after current quarterback Kirk Cousins’s time in uniform is completed. However, the selection of Penix with the 8th pick after paying Cousins $180 million nearly six weeks ago, is absolutely shocking.
The decision to take Penix stunned the 275,000 people at Campus Martius Park in downtown Detroit.
First, Cousins’s earnings in 2024 ($12.5 million) and 2025 ($27.5 million) are fully guaranteed. If the Falcons were to release Cousins after the 2024 season, they’d be on the hook for $65 million in dead money and cost themselves $25 million in net cap space. Even a post-June 1 cut would leave $40 million in dead cap on Atlanta’s books, placing the team in cap Hell.
However, Penix was complimentary of Cousins Thursday night.
“He’s been in the league,” Penix said of Cousins in a phone call with the press. “He’s been in there for a while. He’s played a lot of football. I feel like I’m gonna come in and I’m gonna learn. I’m gonna learn from him.”
Penix’s credentials do not disappoint. He was the runner-up for the Heisman Trophy last year and won the Maxwell Award, as the best all-around player in college football. Additionally, Penix led major college football with 4,903 passing yards in 2023 and was second in FBS in 2022 (4,641). Here’s some historical perspective: Penix is the first player with 4,500 passing yards or more in two straight seasons since Patrick Mahomes did it in 2015 and 2016 for Texas Tech.
However, Penix’s injury history made many teams pause: Penix had four separate season-ending injuries while playing for Indiana University. Penix tore his right ACL in 2018, dislocated his shoulder in 2019, tore his right ACL again in 2020 and separated the AC joint in his shoulder in 2021.
Now, the Falcons have to deal with the fact Penix, 23, would be at least 25 when it’s his turn to take the helm. Colloquially, the NFL stands for ‘Not For Long’ and the Falcons are in win-now mode. Apparently, the clock is ticking for Cousins, head coach Raheem Morris and General Manager Terry Fontenot as owner Arthur Blank has given the team a mandate to win the NFC South for the first time since 2016.