London (Special to ZennieReport.com) – Just over a month before the 2024 NFL draft, the Atlanta Falcons signed veteran free agent quarterback Kirk Cousins to a 4 year, $180 million contract. So when the Falcons selected quarterback Michael Penix Jr with the eighth overall pick in the April 2024 NFL draft, it certainly raised a few eyebrows and perhaps even caught owner Arthur Blank unaware.
But not Zennie62Media, CEO, Zennie Abraham, who was on hand in Detroit for Zennie62Media’s 20th straight year credentialed to cover the NFL Draft on site. Here was his reaction as one who expected the Falcons to take Penix:
While we are not here to discuss the inadequacies of the aforementioned Cousins contract, for the time being at least, the two will be connected, in perhaps a similar way that Cousins was connected to Robert Griffin in Washington.
Firstly, could the Falcons have traded back a little and still taken Penix whilst adding some draft capital? It’s now known that the Birds could have at the very least moved back one spot in a trade with the Bears who had already selected a quarterback in Caleb Williams, therefore there was no chance they would take Penix with that pick. But that’s on management, a player can’t help where he is selected.
There was a suggestion before the draft that Penix might just sneak into the first round, let alone go in the top ten. This was largely due to some injury concerns over ability. You’ll struggle to find a draft board with him in the top fifteen or even twenty.
Strangely, given that Cousins didn’t play a single snap in pre-season the Falcons chose not to give Penix much playing time either, only starting one of the three games. He played for five series and went for 9/16 for 104 yards against the Dolphins. Not terrible, but nothing to write home about either.
Falcons fans wouldn’t see the young quarterback again until week 7. That said he threw one pass and the end of a lopsided defeat at home to the Seahawks. He again appeared for mop-up duty at the end of another big loss in week 11 in Denver. Going 2/4 for 24 yards.
With the benching of Cousins just after a narrow week 15 win against the Raiders, Penix was named the starter for the week 16 clash at home against the 2-win New York Giants. Penix looked comfortable going 18/27 for 202 yards in a 34-7 victory. The young triggerman threw an interception but the fault lies with tight end Kyle Pitts who let the ball slip out of his grasp and into a waiting defensive back in the endzone.
Penix made some nice throws but missed some too, in short, it was a solid if not spectacular starting debut. It most certainly could have been a lot worse.
The following week the Falcons played a must-win game on the road against a (then) 10-win Washington team. Penix started slowly and again missed a few open receivers but he led an impressive late touchdown drive to take the game into overtime. The TD pass to Pitts was as impressive as it gets in that situation. The interception again lies clearly at the feet of wide-out Chris Blair who ran the wrong route and was benched as a result. 19/35 223 yards 1 TD/ 1 INT and one game-tying 4th quarter drive. Incidentally, Penix and the offense didn’t get to touch the ball in overtime.
This takes us to the final week of the season. The Falcons hosted divisional rival the Panthers and thankfully we are not here to discuss the Falcons defensive performance. Penix had his best outing so far, with some notable throws to Hodge, McCloud (who was also at fault if not a little unlucky for the INT) and several to Drake London including another late game-tying touchdown. Penix finished the game 21/38 for 312 yards with 2 TDs and a rushing touchdown.
So overall in his three starts, he showed progress and had two late fourth-quarter game-tying touchdown drives, (could have had a game-winning drive or two if the defense had held up) showing poise and calmness both in and out of the pocket. On these performances and of course, in hindsight, Atlanta should have replaced the poor-performing Cousins with Penix earlier. It would certainly have given a bigger body of work to judge the eighth overall pick on, but it’s so far so good in his three starts.
Although the stats show only three touchdowns, none of the three picks were his fault. He threw for 775 yards in those three starts, a rate that would have given him just under 4400 yards over 17 games. That would have put him fourth out of the 32 starting quarterbacks.
The signs are certainly there that Penix can be more than just the starter for the next season but the next step is to not only play a full seventeen-game season but to get better as it goes on. It certainly seems like he has the ability and mentality to achieve it but only time will tell. As it stands Michael Penix Jr is the Atlanta Falcons starting quarterback going into 2025.