Tag: michael penix

Can any rookies crack the Falcons starting lineup in 2024?

The Falcons can’t count on their 2024 rookies to help improve on 7-10 in 2023.

After finishing 7-10 in 2023, we assumed the Atlanta Falcons could really focus heavily on immediate-impact players in the 2024 NFL draft. Then, after signing veteran quarterback Kirk Cousins to a huge free-agent contract, that sentiment seemed to be even more true.

Then the draft came and Atlanta threw it all out the window. Despite having Cousins on the roster, the Falcons spent their first-round pick on quarterback Michael Penix Jr. This took that all-important first choice and essentially threw it away from the upcoming season.

Looking at the rest of the draft class, we see several guys on the fringe but none of the Falcons rookie class appear to be poised to earn a starting spot this season.

That’s not to say defensive linemen Brandon Dorlus and Ruke Orohoro won’t play. Both guys should be key rotational players along the defensive line.

One sleeper guy we love and want to see crack the starting lineup at some point is edge defender Bralen Trice. The Cardinals starting outside linebackers are Lorenzo Carter only had three sacks in 2023 and Arnold Ebiketie wasn’t much better with six.

Offensively, however, there’s no one here that really excites us in terms of impact in 2024. The Falcons needed another wide receiver but Casey Washington as a sixth-round pick has his work cut out for himself despite some solid potential.

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Falcons QB Michael Penix Jr. signs rookie contract

The Falcons selected Michael Penix Jr. with the No. 8 overall pick.

The most puzzling pick of the first round of the 2024 NFL draft is finally under contract. According to NFL reporter Aaron Wilson, the Atlanta Falcons signed quarterback Michael Penix Jr. to his four-year, fully guaranteed $22.88 million contract.

The Falcons had everyone scratching their heads when they selected the former Washington star with the No.8 overall pick. The reason pundits were so shocked at the pick was because just weeks before, the Falcons signed veteran Kirk Cousins to a massive four-year, $180 million contract.

When the Falcons went on the clock, I think most assumed Penix’s teammate, Rome Odunze would be the pick. Getting Cousins an elite receiver to pair up with Drake London seemed to make the most sense. But the Falcons fooled us all and now they have two quarterbacks but only one viable wide receiver for them to throw the football to.

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Michael Penix makes appearance in Tuscaloosa, helps Kalen DeBoer recruit

Alabama has a surprise celebrity visitor during a busy recruiting weekend!

[autotag]Michael Penix[/autotag] capped off an incredible college football career with an appearance in the College Football Playoff National Championship as the signal caller for Kalen DeBoer and the Washington Huskies last season.

Penix has since become a first-round draft pick of the Atlanta Falcons and is on his way to becoming a future star in the NFL.

Penix played a total of three seasons under the guidance of DeBoer, one with the Indiana Hoosiers in 2019 and then the previous two seasons in Seattle.

Over the weekend, a picture surfaced on social media of Penix spending time in the new home for Coach DeBoer as the southpaw visited the Alabama Crimson Tide in Tuscaloosa.

Penix may have never played a down for the Crimson Tide, but he is showing great loyalty to his college coach by taking time to help DeBoer on a busy recruiting weekend in Tuscaloosa.

Roll Tide Wire will continue to follow the Alabama Crimson Tide football team leading up to the start of the 2024 season!

Contact/Follow us @RollTideWire on X (Twitter), and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Alabama news, notes, and opinion. You can also follow Stacey Blackwood on X (Twitter) @Blackwood89.

Ryan Leaf praises the Falcons for drafting QB Michael Penix Jr.

“This was playing chess when others were playing checkers,” Ryan Leaf said about the #Falcons drafting QB Michael Penix Jr.

In terms of entertainment value, the 2024 NFL draft lived up to the hype, and then some. The Atlanta Falcons’ selection of Washington quarterback Michael Penix Jr. at pick No. 8 was undoubtedly the biggest surprise of Round 1.

Not only was Penix taken ahead of Michigan QB J.J. McCarthy, but he went to a team that few expected to draft a quarterback in the first round. This led to many NFL analysts giving Atlanta poor draft grades, primarily criticizing the Penix pick.

However, much of the criticism hasn’t been aimed at Penix but rather the team’s decision to draft a QB after signing Kirk Cousins in free agency. While it isn’t the most conventional version of a succession plan, there’s nothing crazy about investing in the most important position in football.

Former No. 2 overall pick Ryan Leaf was one of the few to praise the selection. Leaf, who had Penix ranked as the No. 1 QB in the class, complimented the Falcons during an appearance on “Up & Adams” with Kay Adams.

“I think he’s the most pro-ready,” Leaf said about Penix. “The fact that he’s going to be able to sit and learn from what is a great veteran quarterback in Kirk Cousins — I thought this was a great move. This was playing chess when others were playing checkers.”

When Leaf was selected one spot after Peyton Manning in the 1998 NFL draft, he was forced to step in before he was emotionally ready and never developed into the player many thought he would be. While his career didn’t live up to the hype, Leaf often gives refreshing takes as an analyst.

Watch the full episode of “Up & Adams” featuring Leaf, as shared by the show’s YouTube channel below:

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Falcons’ passing game listed among NFL’s most improved positions

“Cousins is a natural fit in Robinson’s offense,” TD Wire’s Doug Farrar on Atlanta’s improved passing offense

When Raheem Morris was hired as the head coach of the Atlanta Falcons, he didn’t dance around the fact that the quarterback position was clearly holding the team back.

Despite fielding a trio of dynamic playmakers at the skill positions, the offense struggled last year under second-year QB Desmond Ridder. Backup Taylor Heinicke didn’t fare much better and head coach Arthur Smith was fired after posting a third consecutive 7-10 record.

“If we had better QB play last year in Atlanta, I might not be standing here,” Morris told reporters at the 2024 NFL Scouting Combine.

The Falcons’ new head coach wasn’t going to make the same mistake. The team aggressively went after Kirk Cousins in free agency before shocking the entire NFL by selecting Washington QB Michael Penix Jr. with the No. 8 pick in the draft.

Love it or hate it, Atlanta’s quarterback room was severely lacking in 2023 and the front office addressed it. The Falcons’ passing game was listed among the NFL’s most improved position groups in a new feature by Touchdown Wire’s Doug Farrar.

Farrar highlights the team’s addition of offensive coordinator Zach Robinson, who comes from the infamous Sean McVay pipeline:

Robinson should have a much better sense of how to use his talent, Cousins is a natural fit in Robinson’s offense if Robinson brings the heavy play-action/motion stuff with three-receiver sets, and we’ll see in the preseason how Penix fits in after playing in Ryan Grubb’s NFL-conversant offense.

The Falcons’ passing game could be one of those great marriages that just started off with a really weird first date. — Doug Farrar, Touchdown Wire

Morris and general manager Terry Fontenot bought into the idea of securing the present and the future at the QB position in the same offseason. Cousins may have a four-year deal, but Penix is a great insurance policy in case the veteran hasn’t fully healed from his Achilles injury.

The Falcons will face both of Cousins’ former teams this season. In Week 14, Atlanta plays the Minnesota Vikings on the road before a matchup against Dan Quinn and the Washington Commanders in Week 17.

Check out the team’s full 17-game schedule and updated 90-man roster (featuring uniform numbers).

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WATCH: Michael Penix Jr.’s high school basketball highlights

WATCH: Falcons QB Michael Penix Jr.’s high school basketball highlights

The Atlanta Falcons may have found their quarterback of the future in former Washington standout Michael Penix. Despite signing Kirk Cousins in free agency, the team felt Penix was too talented to pass on and selected him with the No. 8 pick in the 2024 NFL draft.

Penix may have to wait a while before he gets a chance to start for Atlanta, but his arm strength has been on display at the team’s rookie minicamp. Most don’t think of Penix as a dual-threat QB, but his athleticism is no joke.

Not only did Penix run a 4.46 40-yard dash at his Pro Day, but he used to jump out of the gym during his high school basketball days at Tampa Bay Tech. Watch Penix’s high school basketball highlights below, as shared by Robert Griffin III.

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33rd Team report adds context to Falcons’ selection of Michael Penix Jr.

The 33rd Team’s latest report adds context to the Falcons’ decision to draft QB Michael Penix Jr.

The Atlanta Falcons caused an uproar by selecting Washington quarterback Michael Penix Jr. in the first round of the 2024 NFL draft. Penix was the first truly surprising pick, but mostly because nobody expected the Falcons would be the ones to draft him given that they had just signed Kirk Cousins in free agency.

While some fans and analysts are still scratching their heads, this selection came down to the philosophy of Falcons head coach Raheem Morris. Ari Meirov of The 33rd Team explained that the decision to draft Penix goes back to the 2020 NFL offseason.

Morris, who served as the team’s interim head coach in 2020, interviewed for the full-time job before losing out to Arthur Smith. During that interview, Morris discussed the need for the Falcons to have a succession plan in place for Matt Ryan.

According to Meirov, Smith convinced the front office that quarterback wasn’t an immediate need, prompting the team to use its first-round pick on tight end Kyle Pitts.

The 2021 season was rough with Ryan under center, and things only got worse after trading the former league MVP away in 2022. Atlanta signed Marcus Mariota and selected Desmond Ridder in the third round of the 2022 NFL draft.

Neither player proved to be the answer at the position, and Smith was fired shortly after the 2023 season concluded. As Morris highlighted during his introductory press conference, he probably wouldn’t have gotten the job had the team solidified the QB position under Smith.

Since Cousins is still playing at a high level, many felt the Penix pick was a waste of resources. However, as the front office learned with Matt Ryan, it’s never too early to begin preparation for the future.

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Adam Schefter: Broncos, Falcons had most interest in Spencer Rattler

The Broncos and Falcons had the most interest in Spencer Rattler leading up to the NFL draft, but they both picked QBs in the first round.

South Carolina quarterback Spencer Rattler fell to the New Orleans Saints in the fifth round of the 2024 NFL draft last week.

Why did he fall so far?

During an appearance on the “Pat McAfee Show” on Monday, ESPN’s Adam Schefter suggested that the Denver Broncos and Atlanta Falcons had the most interest in the quarterback. After the Broncos and Falcons picked other QBs in the first round, Rattler had to wait four more rounds to hear his name called.

“You know what I think it was with Spencer Rattler more than anything else? The two teams that liked him most in my mind, based on the people I spoke to, were the Denver Broncos and the Atlanta Falcons,” Schefter said, via Wes Mitchell of on3.com.

“I think they had a mid-second to early third-round grade on him. Spencer Rattler’s big problem there was that the Broncos went with Bo Nix at 12, and the Falcons went with Michael Penix at 8, and his two best options closed up immediately, which left him sitting on the board longer than a lot of people [expected].”

Whether or not the Broncos had serious interest in Rattler is a moot point because Denver ultimately decided on Nix. It will be an interesting conversation in a few years to see how their respective careers pan out after Nix went 12th overall and Rattler went 150th overall.

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The Washington Huskies program set a new NFL draft mark in 2024

The Washington Huskies program became the first college to hit an impressive historical accomplishment in the 2024 NFL draft

If it felt like there were a lot of Washington Huskies flying off the board in the first two nights of the 2024 NFL draft, that feeling was correct.

Two Huskies, QB Michael Penix Jr. and WR Rome Odunze, kicked off the Huskies parade by going back-to-back at Nos. 8 and 9 overall. Left tackle Troy Fautanu followed shortly thereafter as the No. 20 overall pick, giving the Huskies three of the first 20 picks in the entire draft.

Wide receiver Ja’Lynn Polk was next, selected a bit earlier than generally projected at No. 37 overall. Right tackle Roger Rosengarten also came off the board in the second round, No. 60 overall to the Baltimore Ravens.

The first Washington defender earned the nod at No. 74 when EDGE Bralen Trice headed to Atlanta. One more Husky, WR Jalen McMillan, rounded out the Washington contingency in the third round as the No. 92 overall pick.

That’s seven selections in the top 100, with six of them playing offense. And with that, the Huskies became the first program to ever have a quarterback and three wide receivers all drafted in the first three rounds of the same draft class, Greg Harvey of OptaStats.

It’s little wonder why the Huskies advanced to the CFP Championship Game with all that premium talent on board.

Michael Penix to the Falcons at No. 8 was a Pac-12 NFL draft shocker

No one saw this one coming. Penix at No. 8?

Very few people saw this one coming. The Pac-12’s last NFL draft was a very successful one, with eight Pac-12 players being picked in the first round. Of the eight selections, none was more surprising than Michael Penix going to the Atlanta Falcons at No. 8. USA TODAY Sports NFL draft analyst Nate Davis weighed in:

“A sublimely talented passer who turns 24 next month, no telling now when Penix – a starter the past six seasons at the FBS level – will be back in the lineup now that he’s stuck behind Cousins for the foreseeable future. A guy who finally shook the injury bug, his four seasons at Indiana all curtailed by knee and shoulder woes, might have to cope with being a healthy scratch for at least the next two years.”

Why the Falcons acquired Kirk Cousins in NFL free agency, only to then grab an injury-prone quarterback who is already 24 years old, makes no sense. Penix is a play-now player, not someone who should be stashed on the bench for the next two years. The Falcons‘ thought process is really hard to figure out here.

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