Penix is hardly alienated. He quietly knows he will be starting in 2025 at the latest.

@@johnchedsey1306 ...Really? And how would you know that he will start 2025? I guess you pick the winning lottery numbers every weekend because you're so smart and can see into the future.

And after the first game, he proceeds to tear his ACL for the 3rd time....

I’m a Falcons fan and I’m excited.

@@srobeck77now do Kirk. Oh wait. The guy is literally still rehabbing a torn achilles lol.

@TT79-cv9uz Yes, the fundamental point is - the Falcons are dealing with human beings here, not assets they can keep in a freezer for years......The argument some are putting that the real mistake was recruiting Cousins is stupid.

What a bullshit statement. you gonna wait until his rookie contract is up before let him start. the GM should be fired on that spot.

hes obviously just saying that to keep cousins happy, there is 0% chance cousins is here after 2 years (maybe even 1)

​@@lavs8696nailed it. Penix could be starting sometime this year. Like when Cousins plays bad then gets a "cold"

@@lavs8696 They''re not getting off of Cousins for at least 2 years unless they want a ton of dead cap space like Denver. If they move on year 3 its still 25 mil in dead cap.

If they’re getting paid $100M guaranteed, I think they’d sign up for it lol

What’s wild is you same ppl said Falcons should have traded their 1st round pick for Justin Fields. None of you have any credibility

@@truthbearer7891 We find out now Atlanta could've traded a 5th or 6th for Fields and just drafted Penix at #8 and let the two battle it out for the starting job. Saved all that Kirk Cousins money for free agents.

@@chazzhammer425 I don’t think GB should have cut Rodgers and have Love duke it out with Sam Darnold. Kirk may not be Mahomes but he is too 10. A rookie can learn a lot watching someone his caliber

Of course, that is so obvious, anyone with a brain should realize that. Cant beleive Blank didnt realize that.

Since when was the draft for win NOW you really expect a rookie to come in and put a team like the falcons over the top?

​@@Tboy2kool I said 'win now' when referring to Cousins, and 'win very soon' when referring to a rookie. Ideally you want to maximize your roster while the young QB is still on his rookie contract.

@@Tboy2koolimagine Odunze on this team… or trading down with likely the Raiders for a stud WR or Bowers or CB. and probably get the 44th pick for another stud in a deep CB, OL class? The only way this really works is if they still win a Super bowl OR KIRK gets hurt.

No he’s not lol. You remember how the jets last season went?

It's called the "Fans Stockholm syndrom". Jets, Broncos and Cowboys fans are afflicted too. Don't sweat it, it not lethal.

I think it was the owners for stability. The owner must have wanted a vet even at a high cost because 180M$ doesn’t make sense.

@@aem870those cost in the modern nfl for a good quarter back is 50 mil a year, that’s what they paid cousins. It isn’t rocket science

It's par for the course for this organization. Rich McKay has been calling the shots for over a decade despite what they say. It's why he was at the press conference when they fired Arthur Smith and Terry was back at the office filing TPS Reports.

I wonder how Blank agreed to the Pennix drafting after the Cousins signing. That blows my mind.

@aem870 they panicked, a lot of teams do it when they screw up 2 times, the 3rd time they overpay trying not to screw up again. They were going to get Watson at QB and last second Browns went crazy and gave full guaranteed most expensive contract so he got taken from them, then last year they could’ve had Lamar for the same amount of money they gave Cousins in Free agency and didn’t make an offer. Their QB’s were awful this year and cost their playoff chances, so they panicked and overpaid Cousins just to have a decent QB. Titans did the same thing with Calvin Ridley this year, they got rid of AJ Brown instead of paying him, used a 1st round pick to replace him and it went completely bad, so then they overpaid Ridley who’s 31 and 5 years older than Brown instead of signing Brown for less and he’s a lot younger. Teams don’t wanna make a mistake 3 times and then make the mistake of overpaying to try and not miss out again.

no guarantee that Penix would be there

Unless they really like the player but don't think he's ready for a year or two. Then like Love, Mahomes, and Rodgers can step in and have the best chance to succeed.

​@@coryanderson2933 he's not going to succeed with this OL and DL.

@@LAKEGAMEZlol bro they would’ve gotten a QB they liked.

@@coryanderson2933 He's gonna be 24, he's not a developmental player. If that's their plan, then they're just awful at evaluating talent.

Let's hope so. But they need to fire McKay as well. He's the real problem

They were worried big mean bill belichick would affect their jobs status no newsflash Terry Fontenot rich McKay Raheem morris your jobs are on the line because you draft poorly sign bad free agents and lose games

It’s a logical fallacy that only 1st round players can hit. They drafted 4 or 5 front 7 players after pennix.

I would say it is a paradox more than a fallacy. You hurt Cousins by wasting the #1 pick and you hurt Penix by having him sit for two years.

@@jgiza8888 you hurt Penix by spending 100 million on Kirk instead of FAs who could help Penix when he does start

@@jordansheffield6101 actually NO look at the numbers the higher you pick the more chance for a player to hit... top 10 more likely to hit 1st round more likely to hit each round the odds go way down

@@user-mp6dl7wc9z everybody mocked Dallas Turner to the falcons who went 16th so he wasn’t even top 10. But even if he was Michah Parsons he could get injured week 1 and Kirk Cousins cousins could get this team to playoffs. Most people think Pennix could as well. Taylor Heineke could not.

🤣

😂😂😂😂😂

There's a difference?

😂😂😂😂😂

Good for your resume.

And the new GM will trade Penix for pennies because he is not their QB and go draft another one

@@doctorhorton to the new team of the current GM. he is smart.

The Falcons decided to face the "slings and arrows of outrageous fortune".

Then the Falcons would be seen losing!

Like that means anything, right?

@@adrianvasquez254 The point is you bought in this guy as the new Bartkozski, Vicky, Ryan; the face of the franchise. You bought him and paid him as a win now solution. You paid him win now you are the solution money, You had told everyone that to the point where the Braves said yes let the new local hero throw out the first pitch. You then went and contradicted your last 6 weeks and DRAFTED a play day one/ win now QB with your 1st round top ten pick. It's all insane and yet SOOOOO Atlanta.

But not from the mound... Achilles not healed yet?

@@jbaruman272 lol okay, well CLEARLY the front office don’t follow who throws out first pitches at Braves games, which shows their incompetence.

Don't worry it's still atlanta your just fodder to make the better teams look good

Bingo. Unnecessary drama. Players are going to get tired of answering the questions.

That would happen if Penix was a 3rd rdr....

Mediocrity thats their vision. You don't maximize cousins window or penix rookie contract but you make sure you have a decent quarterback all the time . I wonder how this is going to work out..

@@Andre-ig7dz How are we not maximizing Cousins window? By passing on avg pass rushers for your future QB? Falcons added 5 Defensive players in the draft..

So how does the Penix drafting make sense if he wants to win now?

The story was that's why the Falcons got Kirk....to win now.

@@PGO_Gaming Does Blank make those drafting decisions or does he let Fontenot handle it?

He can just buy another heart, or liver, or kidney, whatever he needs.

Kirk is 36, why wait until there is no options left and go years without a decent QB.

The Jets were "just a QB away" and then... At least the Falcons have a backup plans should something go wrong 4 plays into the season.

What’s the probability of getting a high first round quality QB? What’s the probability of getting a OT, DE or LB? You can find good pieces for your defense in the 2nd and 3rd rounds, many has made the Pro Bowl, but most of the QB’s that was in the playoffs last year came out of the 1st round. Other than Brady, the likelihood of that happening again is slim. Falcons may not pick that high again in the next 3 years, I’ll take the future QB first and find him pieces in the other rounds.

First question is do you have a QB? If the answer is no, then you do whatever it takes to get one. Now they have talent in the room, and the problem should be resolved.

@@ericheisler5351 Do you have a quality QB? OR do you have just a QB?

The $100 million is for the first two years of Cousins contract

​@nickfb92 that's a lot of money and a big part of the cap

@@MumRahand it will get you a division title which a lot of teams would pay for.

@jordansheffield6101 not incompetent leadership and drafting would have had that already

@@nickfb92this. People don’t realize that Kirk’s guaranteed money is the first two years. I also don’t have a serious issue with Penix being 24 at the start of the season when they just brought in a QB that is 35 with a torn Achilles. Exactly how long did people expect Cousins to be their QB when he’s at the age that MOST QBs not named Brady start to break down or regress in ability.

Dallas Turner went 16 🙄

@@jordansheffield6101 17 actually, he was certainly good enough to be taken in the top ten, saw a lot of mock drafts with him taken at 8, in most normal years he probably would’ve

@@Brando_1212 they had him going 8 to the falcons because every body said it was need but if he was like that he wouldn’t have fell like that.

The last question you asked is really where the crucial mistake comes into play. Whoever actually decided to take Penix totally believes that the Falcons don't need any help on defense at all--after all, no defensive players had yet been chosen when ATL picked Penix at #8--AND also believes that every position on offense but quarterback is okay as well. You used the right word: a wasted pick. Cousins has to be secretly pissed!!

I know right. They're all trying to rationalize this pick.

@@Hastur805 The cope is so hard. They use one defense while ignoring the counter-argument. They say, "Cousins is old and won't make it." That's fine, and we get that, so why are you paying him $100 mil and why did they sign him in the first place if they weren't confident in him completing a season? Crickets... Lol

@@DoubleDDeacon Exactly

@@DoubleDDeaconthat’s the cost of a top 12 quarter back in the modern nfl. 50 mil a year, not hard to understand

@@johnnycash8567 Kirk's price is the price you pay to WIN NOW, which would mean taking another WIN NOW pick on defense. Not hard to understand.

Also, Rodgers was in his final year of his contract and at the time, coming off a major shoulder injury and was declining. Who knew Rodgers would visit some magic cave and eat magic mushrooms (his words) and then go on to play one of the best seasons of his career. Cousins on the other hand, was just fresh of signing a guaranteed monster QB contract just weeks before the draft.

If you actually compare the situation, its more unlike the GB situation than it is similar to it and way worse too.

@@srobeck77 I'm thinking so as well

As a Vikings fan, this is endlessly humorous and I dont want it to end

@@srobeck77 Haha. It’s totally self inflicted. 🙈😂

Falcons, Cowboys, Jets and Broncos... NFL should put y'all in the same division. Most entertaining ever.

@@jeanfourcade and Browns. Definitely need Browns on that list

He’s not a RB lol. Are you saying that QBs 7 years into the league are past their prime? Mahomes is past his prime?

Weird comment….

His prime would have been 2 years ago now you will get to see him at 27 so he is supposed to start airing out that arm at that age and what hope he does not get injured?

His prime? hes a rookie

😂😂😂

And also the same "business" decision for why Atlanta is a losing organization that will continue to do just that

Kirk cousins is a con artist and a grifter that said the reason the falcons deserve ridicule they could’ve simply said no to signing Kirk cousins

@@alexshirley6096 how do u con whats available to everyone on film? Makes no sense.

So you would be completely happy if your replacement was hired right after you got hired???

@@Paula-mv8im If I had a contract which guarantees me 90 million dollars, yes. It's team sports, he can get injured in week 1 and because there's no backup who can win, finish in last place. Is that his preference? Pitts had a good season with Ryan, then disappeared. That's not a coincidence.

That's a really good point that I haven't heard other people mention....your star QB of the present is right-handed; your star QB of the future is left-handed.

He was always a bridge until we found his successor.. He's 36....When has KC ever been known as a franchise QB? He's just a franchise negotiator.. lol

Since when does getting Kirk Cousins mean you’re going to a Super Bowl?

@@jordansheffield6101 Well, Vegas thought so. After the news broke that Kirk was signing with the Falcons, Sportsbooks moved the Falcons to 30/1 to win Super Bowl 2025 after opening at 50/1 prior. Atlanta now has the 12th-best odds to win the Lombardi Trophy.

@@Paula-mv8im so either the falcons go all in on the universe where Kirk Cousins is beating Patrick Mahomes in the SB or they are dumb?

@@jordansheffield6101 So, why didn't Falcons settle for a cheap Journeyman QB, since they did not have any hope or big plan. You can't have both ways. Either they wanted to win, or they did not. Why even play at all, since Mahomes is going to win, anyway.

@@jordansheffield6101 What is the point spending 100 million, then? There were cheaper options.

Thank you. I've been saying this for 3 years

Bingo

Penix is ready to play you don't need to train him. Cousins is rehabbing from his injury so the whole team is going to lean towards penix especially the young guys. both qbs are proably pissed, so you created a toxic locker room for no reason.. they are bridge qbs like minshew,dalton, brisset, darnold ,locke... but no, you lie to cousins to get him there or you did't have a plan who you want to draft 50 days ago. it just plain stuppid on so many levels😅

The business part of it is what makes it a dumb decision. You could have a far cheaper bridge QB for Penix to learn from and spent the rest of the money on assets or you could get Cousins and use the pick to build the roster around him. Instead you have an expensive QB room and no team will give you what Cousins or Penix is worth because you don't need both. We just saw the Packers take a $40M hit with Rodgers contract, then the Broncos took an $80M hit with Wilson, just for the Falcons to volunteer themselves into a bad business decision.

OK, so your solution for when Cousins-who is still VERY good but had a severe injury, rehab, and will be 36 when the season starts-is to turn to…Taylor Heinicke? Cmon guys. No one wants to watch that for a season. All the decent backup QBs are spoken for, which means you’re gonna have to pay $$$ or trade future picks to get one. Or…you can have Michale Penix Jr for free, and have a QB room for the future. Think about it.

@@AdamKlawonn man you contradict yourself. now cousins is 36 years old and rehabbing, why do you sign him. did you hear his press conference? he wants to win a superbowl and was glad that everybody in atlanta was on the same page😅 so at this point the either lied to cousins or they changed their mind. penix played a ton of football he is 24 that was the knock on him, he is ready , he doesn't need to sit for a long time. if you wanted penix u should have known months ago and at that moment no backups where signed. it just shows that the front office has no idea what they are doing...

@@Andre-ig7dz No-Cousins still has some great football left in him. Just look up “Achilles tendon injury” and see just how painful it is and how hard the rehab is. You’ll be glad Penix is in the building if something goes wrong. If they win, and don’t need Penix for 3-4 years, they will look like geniuses. If they lose or Cousins gets hurt, they will look like geniuses. I know it looks like a dumbass move and the front office looks like they made a mistake, for sure, but there is a “silver lining” here. Trust!

...as a rated "R" horror movie!

For weeks I had to listen to all these sports "journalists" speculate about why ATL didn't choose Belichick, but I heard NOT ONE person even hinting that maybe Belichick didn't choose them.

Facts the perfect bridge qb a hair under top 7 10 qb

No, Cousins actually had an NFL career worth talking about

​@@Jerryattrickliverspottedhands has he lol dude has ever even played in a championship game? He also can't win on prime time 99% of the time.

​@@ShinyHunterGojiamore than just him responsible for that

Cousins was drafted in the 4th round. And RG3 hadnt proved anything in the NFL yet and hadnt been paid 100 million guaranteed.

@@gsp3428 That's not the point; RG3 was drafted in the first round, with Cousins drafted later. RG3 was always looking over his shoulder...kinda like now.

It's perplexing because of how high they took him

@@kurtrogers9658 We tried the mid rd QB thing with Ridder..

True. When does it not work out that way?

@cblification right, everyone forgets that NE literally made Tom Brady the starter a season after signing Drew Bledsoe to a 10 year contract and after he came back in for Brady in AFC championship game when he got hurt he won them the game to go to the SB.. the fact they think cousins who is 36 and has 1 playoff win in 12 seasons was a crazy decision to have a backup plan at QB is the real crazy

@@kylem6370 the fatal plot hole here is for every Tom Brady story there are thousands that never worked out

than don't sign him. And the brady situation was totally difffrent they spend a 6 round pick on him. don't sign cousins if you want to draft penix. it not rocket science😅

2 years.....

Yes.. He was ok with it..

@@MrTerrell966 That is what he says but I doubt that he was looking to sit on the bench for a couple of years.

You don’t spend $50 million a year for a bridge quarterback. The Falcons are just looney

@@christianrapper5 He's 36.. And he was the best QB available..Knows the offense... Falcons want to be relevent again and develop winning culture..

KIrk knows the offense.. And hes way better than JF..

Cousins is getting paid. How's he getting screwed? He has no right to get offended by ATL securing a good back when that's how he got his bag 😅

@timflint25 🎯🎯🎯🎯🎯🎯

​@@jemazondo9331 Yeah nothing at all matters besides money

Well it shows you aren’t a falcons fan. Only time will tell what happens but Terry has been amazing for Atlanta and Raheem has the team more ready to run through a wall than any team since 2016

@@averyray319 stop it. You're a fan, you'd defend them if they drafted a punter first round. Every fan base thinks the team would "run through a wall" for the coach.

I don't think anyone is saying that. It's that if you pay a guy $100 million dollars to be your quarterback for the next 2 years (technically 90 but if you cut him after those 2 years another 10 is guaranteed) You've essentially gone all in on the next 2 years, and drafting his backup at 8th overall is completely antithetical to the idea of going all in.

​@@someguy1994 All Kirk needs to worry about us healing and getting back on the field.

exactly rich eisen needs to find a new topic

@@someguy1994true…. But look at it as a cheap insurance plan for your big money investment. If Kirk comes out mediocre or gets hurt again…… all that money spent would be for nothing. I guess you don’t give a guy that much money from the start if he needs an insurance plan, but that’s where alt find themselves at. This whole situation is purely subjective. You can look at it negative or positive.

*BREAKING NEWS:* 1. Cousin Kirk, a Quarterback who pretends to work on Mondays, and doesnt work on Tuesdays and his silly fans, are upset that Michael Penix Jr. (the most talented college Quarterback since Trevor Lawrence, Caleb Williams & Deshaun Watson), a Quarterback who works from Sunday till Sunday got drafted. 😅🤣😂 2. Jeebus Forking Cripes... the Michael Penix Jr. whinging is getting on my nerves. The mistake wasnt drafting Michael Penix. The mistake was signing Kirk Cousins for $100M. Dude has earned more than Tom Brady, but only has 1 playoff win. 3. People are pretending as if Falcons drafting Laiatu Latu or Dallas Turner would have been the piece for Kirk Cousins to take the Falcons to the Superbowl. Kirk Cousins could have JJ Watt and Nick Bosa and he still wouldnt go to the Superbowl. 4. 14 starting QBs got injured in 2023. Therefore you might as well take a very good QB in the 1st round and a good Defensive End in the 2nd round and thats exactly what Atlanta did.

I know, right? That's why I don't listen to these sports media. Everyone has flexible opinions when it suits their bottom line.

Brother HE'S 24 YEARS OLD THEY SIGNED KIRK FOR 100 MILL IS NOT THE SAME THING as signing a bridge starter like my patriots did in Jacoby for Maye who's 21 years old

He ain't young he's 5 years off from middle age 😂

@@jahwrld24 Actually they signed Cousins for 180 mil over 4 years, with 100 guaranteed in the first 2 years. Still, the guy will be 36 when starting the season, so at the end of the contract he'll be 40. So even if he goes on a tear for those 4 years and doesnt get injured, Penix will 'only' be 28 (so has another decade in him at least) with a lot of maturity and a lot of training with and by Cousins, you then franchise tag him for another year at a lowly 6 mil while Cousins retires. If he lives up to expectations you can then hand him a bag, and if he isn't the dynastic QB for them, they can still trade him out or use him as a bridge for someone they draft then. And if Cousins DOES get injured or retires early, you still have a good fall back option. Drafting a first round QB and then letting him learn and mature is what teams SHOULD be doing all over the league, instead of pushing 1st round QBs into action way too early, or hoping their backup QB drafted many rounds later turns out to be a Brady or a Purdy. The only reason this is controversial is coz everyone has been doing it wrong for so long now, that the wrong way has now become the norm and media latch on to anything that isnt the norm coz controversy drives clicks.

Yep, best case scenario you waste 2-3 years of Penix's rookie contract with him sitting there. Other scenarios are Cousins gets hurt or plays like crap and you wasted that money. And if Penix doesn't pan out either? You're out the Cousins $ and wasted the 8th pick. Everyone seems to think that because the Packers have had QBs sit twice and it's panned out its some sort of magic formula. Ignoring the sample size of a whooping 2 QBs and the fact that either Rodgers or Love may have been just as good with less time on the bench.

"We're going to spend $100mill on a QB no matter what!!!" 😂

@@MumRah Not on a Rookie Contract

@@leevancleef358 of for whatever reason Cousins isn't playing, we basically are. Could have signed Flacco or whatever if this was the "plan"

$100M bridge quarterback.

Then you wasted hella money

Excepted Penix has quite a bad injury history and will be a 26 y/o starter in this scenario with potentially 0 nfl experience. Jordon love will have had 2 years starting at the same age.

Penix is not a project QB, I would refuse to sign if I were Penix.

@@Andum48 Everyone assuming Penix is ok with sitting

Lamar Jackson's contract dispute is one of the most idiotic contract disputes ever and Lamar is 100% to blame for that. The media doesn't want to call out the stupidity which is why people don't realize it.

@@Andum48 ... he won MVP last year. Obviously you don't remember or care to look back on his thoughts on it. All due respect, I don't care what your opinion is of his contract dispute, I was commenting on Rich's... which ironically involved the Falcons as well.

@@stevenrussellwells It's not my opinion, it's math. The fact that he won the MVP is irrelevant to his contract negotiations. The fact remains by holding out for a guaranteed deal he set his contract cycle back 2 years and left 60 mil on the table.

@@Andum48 the fact that he won MVP is extremely relevant because once again... I'm not talking about the financials, I very much understand that you are... in that regard we agree. I am speaking solely to Rich's take on Lamar's worth as a player and his talent, and that nobody should be trying to trade for him... namely, the Falcons.

Aw, here it goes.

No, no, here's what management thinks: "We'll get five solid years out of Kirk while Penix patiently sits on the bench watching him. (Because, after all, what else could he POSSIBLY want to do?) Then after that, we'll get 10-15 years out of Penix! OMG, we are SO smart!"

You left out how many free agent signings with 180 million too

Or even just adding odunze or another top tier talent

THeyll have Penix on rookie contract for 5 years.. Kirk is just a 2 yr deal...

@@MrTerrell966 4 deal, but 2 is guaranteed

Are you saying he's another Russell Wilson?

@@BillieBailey-th3lc I think Cousins will be forced out at the end of the season. Just like Russell Wilson. The Steelers don't have a QB past this season. Makes sense to me!