For the first hour of the first round of the NFL Draft, everything was going to plan. Despite all the smoke leading up to last Thursday night, nothing out of the ordinary took place within the first seven picks. There were no surprising trades, and everyone seemed to make the most logical selection once they were on the clock.
The Falcons must have seen all of that and thought it was too boring because they completely flipped the NFL Draft on its head when they took Michael Penix with the 8th overall pick. Very few people saw it coming, and everybody was anxious to hear the reasoning behind the selection from Raheem Morris and Terry Fontenot.
The two took the podium moments after the first round concluded, and while their answers still left most fans scratching their heads, the one thing they mentioned multiple times was the Green Bay model.
The Packers have brilliantly gone from Hall-of-Fame quarterback to Hall-of-Fame quarterback to Jordan Love without ever facing the dreaded QB purgatory, and they’ve done that by taking quarterbacks in the first round that they coveted and letting them sit for a few years.
However, as Daniel Jeremiah puts it, comparing situations in Atlanta and Green Bay is “apples to oranges.”
"The Falcons used the Green Bay model as their explanation..
That's apples to oranges because Kirk Cousins hasn't played a game for the Falcons..
He has no equity with the organization or the city yet" ~ @MoveTheSticks #PMSLive pic.twitter.com/NNdih8Ic2D
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) April 29, 2024
Jeremiah hits the nail on the head with both of his points. The one less discussed is the locker room dynamic. The Falcons have created a storm I’m not sure they’ll be able to manage properly. Cousins doesn’t have the backing of his teammates or fan base yet, and now there’s an incredible amount of pressure for him to perform immediately. If he doesn’t, there will be calls for Penix.
It doesn’t matter how many times Raheem Morris and Terry Fontenot sit at the podium and claim there’s no quarterback controversy. That’s not for them to decide if his teammates inside the building start to feel Penix gives the Falcons the best chance to win.
Jeremiah then discusses the allocation of resources, which is the biggest issue in all of this. The Falcons won’t be able to maximize their time with Kirk Cousins under center because they invested their highest draft pick into his successor. They also won’t be able to maximize the potential cheat code that is Penix’s rookie contract because they have invested heavily into Kirk Cousins for three years, whether he’s the starting quarterback or not.
I would also add that the situations between the Falcons and Packers are not similar because they weren’t picking in the top 10. Green Bay already had a roster capable of competing for a Super Bowl. Rodgers was taken 24th overall and Love was taken 26th. The Packers also didn’t hand Favre or Rodgers four-year extensions with $100 million guaranteed before drafting a quarterback.
The situations are nothing alike. Attempting to compare them is foolish.
