Shocking the Future is NOW! : First Round thread

[Cody_Russell]

I'm not surprised Penix went in the Top 10. My gut was telling me that teams were higher on him than draftniks were.

But I was expecting a team panic trading up for him because of a run on QBs.

Falcons took Penix???

Wow

I’m sure this will be the big talking point today. The shock of the draft. IMO, not a bad idea to pay Cousins and draft Penix Jr. Falcons are certainly using a ton of resources to address QB. It’s also by far the most important position in the NFL right now. Significant upgrade from Desmond Ridder.

Falcons get a top 10-14 starting QB in Cousins short term. Penix Jr. can take the Palmer, Rodgers, Mahomes, and Love route to a starting job. It has proven to work for QBs to be benched early on. Learn the system and become comfortable. Think most of us like Penix Jr. as a player. He just needs some injury luck going forward.

There is a rumor that if Arnold lasted past 18 the Lions would start looking to trade up for him.

Correct!

[whatever_gong82]

https://www.freep.com/story/sports/nfl/lions/2024/04/25/detroit-lions-brad-holmes-celebrate-2024-first-rounder-terrion-arnold/73460105007/

[GALion68]

Sheila knows to let the people who do this for a living do their job. She's engaged, to be sure, but she knows to let the experts she hired do the cooking.

Willie hired his drinking buddies and whoever was willing to kiss his ass regardless of competence.

It starts from the top.

A defining moment for me was watching the locker room celebration after the playoff win over the Rams with Holmes giving a speech saying how special every player is. Something we never could’ve imagined seeing under Ford Sr’s ownership.

[Topweasel]

I’m sure this will be the big talking point today. The shock of the draft. IMO, not a bad idea to pay Cousins and draft Penix Jr. Falcons are certainly using a ton of resources to address QB. It’s also by far the most important position in the NFL right now. Significant upgrade from Desmond Ridder.

Falcons get a top 10-14 starting QB in Cousins short term. Penix Jr. can take the Palmer, Rodgers, Mahomes, and Love route to a starting job. It has proven to work for QBs to be benched early on. Learn the system and become comfortable. Think most of us like Penix Jr. as a player. He just needs some injury luck going forward.



Correct!

No its Stupid. Super Stupid. Levels of Stupidity unseen by man in years.
Drafting Penix now leaves you a potential probowl player down.
Drafting Penix now means if he starts this year you have at least 100 million on the books between the next two years)
Give Penix a year and cut Cousins going into 2025 You still have 60 million in Dead cap (~30 million a year).
Even if you wait till 3. The Cap hit goes up even if the dead cap goes down.
Which means the only time this pick works is benching him till his 4th year, Cousins contract still hurts a little but the you get a mixture of the last cheap year with Penix and smallest impact from Cousins contract.
Forgot the worse. Because you made this decision after signing Cousins. Even if it is smart, the new Meta which is to win with a QB on a rookie contract. You don't get that because there is basically no way outside cutting Cousins after this season, to have Penix start and not being paying QB starting money and its only in that 4th year. Immeadiately before you have to pay Penix anyways.

So in the top 8. You if picked a player that you are actively hoping doesn't play till you have to decide whether or not to pick up their 5th year option. Ignoring his age (25 years old so will be almost 30 before he plays), injury history. Unlike Love and Mahomes, drafted immeadiately after signing a QB to a 45 million a year deal. This is like someone looking at what was not a particularly good decision in Love and deciding that they one to increase the difficultly level. It was worse then a bad move.

[Mainevent]

The dead money cap hit for Cousins in year 3 is apparently $25M. So even if Penix takes over after 2 years of not playing, they will still have a large chunk of payroll dedicated to QB that is unproven (if things go well with Kirk) and won’t have played meaningful snaps in 2 years.

If Penix is a stud in 3 years it could look genius, Atlanta will be able to stick in everybody’s face, Brad Holmes style or find themselves in a position similar to GB. But they could eat a lot of shit the next couple of years if the defense struggles as Penix rides the bench.

[froot loops]

I was high on Penix, but I'm not a draft guy. He dragged that Washington team to the national championship game, a lot of games depended on his arm. It's a little weird that they signed Cousins and drafted Penix because Penix has the most experience of all the quarterbacks and should be ready to go early.

[chemiclord]

Had the Falcons drafted McCarthy, it would have made a bit more sense. It'd still have been kinda dumb, but at least it would have been a QB that you could afford a little development time for.

Taking a guy like Penix is basically telling Cousins you already regret giving him that bag, and that you're planning on moving on as soon as possible.

[jaadam4]

I disliked Penix coming straight to the NFL and starting day 1 like most guys are doing. I think it’s a genius move by ATL.

Cousins is a really good QB for a young guy to learn from. In college as soon as Penix took heat he’s just not good but with a clean pocket he’s got a nice ball. He’s going to be able to come along slowly.

One thing I’ll give both JJ McCarthy and Penix is that they’re really strong guys mentally. They both carry themselves with an extreme amount of professionalism and in the right environment I think they can thrive.

Penix went to the absolute best situation but I don’t think McCarthy did.

[Coop]

Atlanta taking Penix makes zero sense after signing Cousins to that 4 year contract. Makes me wonder if they found out some bad or concerning news on his Achilles recovery and panicked.

[jaadam4]

Had the Falcons drafted McCarthy, it would have made a bit more sense. It'd still have been kinda dumb, but at least it would have been a QB that you could afford a little development time for.

Taking a guy like Penix is basically telling Cousins you already regret giving him that bag, and that you're planning on moving on as soon as possible.

I don’t see that. Penix isn’t ready and it’ll give him 3 years to get ready.

I bet Cousins is mad as f*ck tho

[Mainevent]

If Penix isn’t ready to start in two years then this is a complete disaster.

[Sanders Fan]

The guys said on ESPN that the Falcons worked him out and thought he was like the second coming of Stafford.

[El Axe]

Had the Falcons drafted McCarthy, it would have made a bit more sense. It'd still have been kinda dumb, but at least it would have been a QB that you could afford a little development time for.

Taking a guy like Penix is basically telling Cousins you already regret giving him that bag, and that you're planning on moving on as soon as possible.

Exactly my thoughts. Penix is already 24. By the time Cousins is ready to hand over the reigns, Penix will be in his late 20s.

I guess they might be looking at it like we look at Hendon Hooker. He's already ready to be a backup. Cousins gets injured and Penix can come in and give them a chance to win this season. Sad thing, though, is they're delusional if they think they're a Super Bowl contender or that this move helps put them on that path.

Seeing that pick gave me Matt Millen PTSD

[Whitley]

The bad move by Atlanta is blindsiding Cousins with this move.

Penix has a lot of talent. Coaches love him because he can throw an easy, accurate deep ball. He also raises the play of those around him look at Washington and IU. He is a tough kid too He took a beating against Michigan and should have gone out a lot earlier.

Even if Cousins is totally hostile to Penix it still is a good sitch for him, because Cousins has a very good work ethic and Pretty accurate.

[mason reese]

I don’t see that. Penix isn’t ready and it’ll give him 3 years to get ready.

I bet Cousins is mad as f*ck tho

3 years on bench for a top 10 rookie contract can’t be very cap friendly