MICHAEL PENIX JR. PICK ENDORSED BY FALCONS OWNERSHIP PUTS KIRK COUSINS ON THE CLOCK

Shockwaves spread across NFL war rooms like a Travis Kelce Taylor Swift rumor when the Atlanta Falcons unexpectedly selected Michael Penic Jr. with the 8th pick in the first round of the NFL draft last Friday night.

From stunned media members to the Minnesota Vikings making an irrational trade with the Jets to move up one spot to pick J.J. McCarthy, the ramifications of the pick certainly left its mark on several teams who targeted Penix Jr. 

T-minus, how many more games does Kirk Cousins realistically have as a starting quarterback for the Atlanta Falcons? The team that just signed him to a four-year, $180 million deal, of which $100 million is guaranteed through 2025, has officially put his tenure on the clock, and he hasn’t even had a chance to audible out of a run play. 

Initial speculation was that GM Terry Fontenot may not have had owner Arthur Blank's sign-off on the Penix pick. He was caught on tape in the Falcons' war room having an animated conversation with the owner right after the selection was made. The video clearly shows that they had a serious conversation about something.

Regardless of whether or not Fontenot pulled a Texas two-step on the owner, the Falcons coaching staff and scouting department believe Penix possesses a rare talent that caused the team to select him.

Now, according to sources inside the draft room, Blank was sitting with Fontenot and head coach Raheem Morris as they called Penix to congratulate him on the selection. Blank took the phone at one point and told the quarterback, “We’re excited you’ll be a Falcon and look forward to the continued success of your incredible career. … We appreciate you.” 

It is hard to believe that an NFL GM would not receive buy-in from any owner regarding a first-round draft pick, so let's assume the animated conversation was about something other than Penix. 

At Underrated, we had Penix Jr. as the most underrated quarterback going into the draft. This was largely based on his actual performance while at the University of Washington, not his past injuries. We believed he threw the best deep ball of anyone in the draft and was also able to deliver the ball with touch and at angles better than any of the other top-tier quarterbacks in the draft.

We certainly understood the fascination with both Caleb Williams and Jayden Daniels. We did not expect Penix to leapfrog them in the draft, but we graded Drake Maye, J.J. McCarthy, and Bo Nix well below Penix, who, in our opinion, is NFL-ready today.

So it did not surprise us that the Falcons would turn around and select Penix with the 8th pick, largely because he has the potential to be an outstanding QB in the NFL.

Now, the Falcons' rationale, which they are selling to the world, covers everything from Arthur Blank wanting to have overlap between a young quarterback and a veteran nearing the end of his career to the standard sports rhetoric like next year's QB draft class doesn’t look so promising.

Reports from inside the Falcons organization suggest they had Penix rated as the 3rd best quarterback in the draft, which was probably higher than most teams. 

The Falcons also conducted several private works with Penix, the last one taking place on April 5th, when the Falcons sent a herd of key personnel to a private workout with the quarterback in Seattle. The group included Fontenot and head coach Raheem Morris. Apparently, Morris manned the linebacker position for some of the drills, and after drafting, Penix raved about hearing the ball's velocity as it went over his head.

THE UNDERRATED OPINION 
It has now been four days since the Falcons were on the clock, and it appears clear that, despite spending all that money on Cousins, the Falcons have already decided to move on from him eventually. If you will, the countdown to the end of Kirk Cousins's career as the starting quarterback for the Atlanta Falcons has already begun.

In 2022, 68 QBs started games in the NFL; in 2023, 54 different QBs started games. While until last season, Kirk Cousins has been relatively injury-free, he is coming off a major injury, and he is beginning to ski down the backside of career mountain, so there is absolutely nothing wrong, nor should it have been shocking that Penix was drafted 8th by the Falcons. The moral of the 2023 Minnesota Vikings season quickly became about having a deep quarterback room, which they did not have last season. When Cousins went down with a season-ending injury, the Vikings scrambled to find a replacement that never materialized. Even if Penix starts the season as a backup, odds are that he will most likely see some planning time at some point in rookie season.

Having a strong QB room should be the goal of every NFL team.

What is shocking is that numerous draft analysts actually had Penix fall into the second round of the draft. I guess those analysts only read articles about his past injuries and neglected to watch the tape from his last two seasons at the University of Washington. Did they not watch him lead his team to the National Championship game?

As for Kirk Cousins, yes, the clock is officially starting to wind down on his career. While he probably thought he would be the main Falcons quarterback in town, that ship has sailed, as he will now be pushed by an NFL-ready rookie quarterback who the fans will want to see sooner rather than later.  

Ultimately, Cousins is a really good guy, and I'm sure he will support Penix's development; the question remains: how long will it be before the pressure of the situation takes its toll on Cousins and he gives way to Penix?