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The Atlanta Falcons shocked the world when they took Michael Penix Jr. with the No. 8 pick in the 2024 NFL draft, but they feel like they got a steal.
Jeremy Fowler of ESPN reported Penix was ranked as the second-best quarterback in this class on the Falcons’ big board. The team graded him as the draft’s best “pure passer.”
Penix was by far the most shocking pick of the 2024 draft. While it was expected he’d be taken somewhere in the first or second round, no one had him going in the top 10—and no one outside the Falcons’ front office had any clue he was on their radar at No. 8.
Perhaps the person most shocked by the selection was Kirk Cousins, who signed a four-year, $180 million deal with Atlanta last month. Cousins has not publicly commented on the move, but his agent Mike McCartney told ESPN’s Pete Thamel there was “frustration and confusion” coming from the Cousins camp.
Penix said Cousins called him Thursday night and they had a productive conversation.
Falcons general manager Terry Fontenot explained the team’s thinking at a press conference Thursday night.
“If you believe in a quarterback, you have to take him,” Fontenot said. “And if he sits for four or five years, that’s a great problem to have because we’re doing so well at that position. So, it’s as simple as, if you see a guy you believe in at that position, you have to take him.”
The Falcons likened the decision to the Green Bay Packers’ drafting of Jordan Love in 2020. That said, the Packers in that scenario weren’t dealing with a quarterback they’d just convinced to sign with them as a free agent a month ago—and things still didn’t go particularly well with Aaron Rodgers.
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