The most shocking moment of 2024 NFL Draft night came when the Atlanta Falcons, fresh off offering Kirk Cousins a four-year, $180 million contract that included $90 million entirely guaranteed, selected University of Washington quarterback Michael Penix Jr. with the No. 8 overall pick. There had recently been a lot of smoke around Penix going out of the picture in the top half of the first round, and even some that he would land in Atlanta, but the latter seemed like too strange an outcome for that to actually happen .
Alas, it happened. During the draft broadcast, cameras appeared to film general manager Terry Fontenot explaining the selection to owner Arthur Blank.
And in his post-project press conferenceFontenot explained this to the media and Falcons fans.
“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 big deal because we’re so successful at that position. So it’s as simple as if you see a guy you believe in at that position, you must take it.”
He will also have to explain it to Cousins, who apparently was not alerted about the choice and was both “shocked” and “disappointed”. His agent told NFL Network: “We had no idea this was going to happen. The truth is the whole league had no idea this was going to happen. We had no information. Kirk got a call from the Falcons while they were on the clock. That was the first one we heard. It never came up in any conversation.
According to ESPNthe Falcons “had conviction on Penix wire to wire,” and sent eight coaches and front office executives to Seattle for a meeting with him after his Pro Day. The contingent included Fontenot, assistant general manager Kyle Smith, head coach Raheem Morris, offensive coordinator Zac Robinson and the quarterbacks. coach TJ Yates.
If that was the case, it’s especially odd that they signed Cousins to such a massive deal and not let him know they were considering moving in that direction. Fontenot’s assertion that it’s a good problem if your highly drafted QB has to sit four or five years behind a veteran falls apart when you realize the quarterback in question will be 29 by the time his rookie contract comes up will expire, and the team will then have to pay him to remain without having seen him on the field until then. The regime that recruited him may not even exist by then, considering the Falcons are 21-30 with three straight 7-10 seasons under Fontenot.
Atlanta obviously has its own version of the pick, and if Cousins plays well for a few years then retires and Penix then becomes a star, maybe the Falcons can look back and make fun of all the people who questioned their plan. But for the moment, proceeding this way was surely not a good thing, and anyone who thinks about it in the future will have to at least recognize that.
