Perhaps the biggest surprise in the first round of the NFL Draft on Thursday was the Atlanta Falcons drafting quarterback Michael Penix Jr. with the No. 8 pick.
It puzzled most people, since the Falcons had recently signed veteran QB Kirk Cousins to a four-year contract that will be worth $180 million.
But there is another way to view this decision: that the Falcons have an eye on the future while looking to win now, and it is the message Emmanuel Acho got across on FS1’s “Speak” while lauding the decision and calling it a “brilliant move.”
.@EmmanuelAcho: The Falcons are acquiring Kirk Cousins to win now and drafting Michael Penix Jr. to win later… It’s a brilliant move. pic.twitter.com/ftUuxowYbx
— Speak (@SpeakOnFS1) April 26, 2024
The Falcons don’t exactly have a winning tradition, but the decision to draft Penix could ensure they will have a competitive team for years to come.
Cousins has been a good player for many years — he has been named to the Pro Bowl four times and led the league in completion percentage in 2015 — but he is now 35 years of age.
Furthermore, he’s coming off a torn Achilles he suffered in the middle of last season, and it’s an injury that often, for all intents and purposes, ends a pro athlete’s career.
Penix was regarded by many as only the fifth-best quarterback in this year’s draft class, but this year’s QB crop is exceptionally deep.
He threw for 4,906 yards and 36 touchdowns last season while leading the University of Washington to the College Football Playoff National Championship Game, where it lost to J.J. McCarthy and the University of Michigan.
Acho also mentioned the fact that a number of good and great quarterbacks in the NFL right now didn’t start right away, and Penix can follow that path by sitting, watching, and learning for a while before being thrown into the fire.
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