On Friday’s “Get Up” show, former NFL quarterback and current ESPN commentator Dan Orlovsky said that he was one of the people who was “perplexed” when the Washington Huskies’ Michael Penix Jr. was selected by the Atlanta Falcons with the eighth pick of the 2024 NFL Draft.
Orlovsky later gave an explanation for why, in spite of Atlanta signing veteran Kirk Cousins to a four-year, $180 million contract with a $100 million guarantee back in March, he now understands the decision, according to Ben Axelrod of Awful Announcing.
Orlovsky stated of the Falcons, “No. 1, they had Michael Penix as the second-best quarterback in this draft, attached to [No. 2 pick] Jayden Daniels.” “Second, they anticipate having Kirk Cousins for a few more excellent years. And from their experience last night, they understood it could be too costly to select a quarterback so early in the draft when they are so far behind in the back end.”
The Falcons are the -130 favorites to win the NFC South division title in the 2018 season, according to DraftKings Sportsbook’s early Friday morning odds. Although most people didn’t realize until Thursday night that Atlanta would select a day-one starter with the No. 8 pick, Cousins turns 36 this summer.
Orlovsky did reveal, though, that some Falcons members left a pre-draft workout drawing comparisons between Penix and Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford.
“You don’t take a quarterback in the top 10 unless your owner is not only on board with it, wants it,” Orlovsky went on to say. “Atlanta’s mind process makes perfect sense to me now. I can appreciate their perspective on Michael Penix. Furthermore, I believe it’s quite wise of them to get ready for the fact that no development will be required in two years.”
Mina Kimes, another ESPN expert, disagreed with Orlovsky during their conversation on the “First Take” program.
According to Sports Illustrated’s Mike McDaniel, Kimes stated, “If you think you’re going to be good, which is why you pay Kirk Cousins $100M guaranteed, you’re doing your team a disservice by not making your team better so that you can compete now.” You might choose to trade down and take several shots on goal or select the greatest edge-rusher available in this draft. They didn’t take any of those actions.
Penix will turn 24 years old next month, thus Kimes noted that he should be eager to play sooner than some other rookie quarterbacks.
Earlier in the spring, Cousins expressed his desire for Atlanta to serve as his “final stop” and for him to “finish strong” while playing for the Falcons. One wonders whether he’s already second-guessing his choice to exercise his free agency.