The Falcons GM made many fans extremely happy, Bears fans that is.

Signing a guy coming off an achilles injury and then drafting a QB because your qb is coming off an achilles injury is interesting logic.

Arthur Blank Check

Aren’t there additional rounds to pick Def players since this is the most Off players chosen in the 1st Round? Not a big deal especially in the NFC South! 😂

OMG its the Atlanta Strategy! Bet the over AND the under; you cant lose!!

Jordan Love was 21 when drafted. Penix is already 24!

There is NO GUARANTEE that ANY of these players pan out especially in the 1st round and there is NO GUARANTEE that if you actually hit on these guys, you buy yourself a Superbowl. Examples: Tyree Wilson, Travon Walker, Jadeveon Clowney, Chase Young, Mario Williams, Chris Long on the OTHER SIDE Myles Garrett, TJ Watt, JJ Watt, Aiden Hutchinson.....and the list goes on. Kirk might be good for a year or 2...or me might blow out his ankle again (SEE NEW YORK JETS). Also...does anyone remember the Chiefs drafted Mahomes at 10 WITH the NFL's leader in QB Rating in the fold in Alex Smith. They were MOCKED. Everyone has amnesia about that, but that worked out well. Not saying Penix is Mahomes. Same with Green Bay. Everyone MOCKED the Packers when they drafted Love. They werent 1 CHANCE 1st round player away from a Superbowl. They do however don’t have to deal with QB hell like the Panthers, Seahawks, Broncos, Saints, Raiders, Jets, Commanders....and the list goes on. They can actually compete, and build around a guy in Love. When you have a chance to secure the QB room for 10 years, and you feel good about it. Do it. This IS a QB driven league, and when a team tries to secure it's QB room for 10 years, people lose there minds.

I think lost through all of this discussion is how talented Penix is. Rifle arm, mobility, run threat, etc. If a mistake was made in Atl, it was probably $100M on Cousins.

So wild. Looking at the Jets video during their draft you see the GM explaining to the owner his process prior to every pick.

The Raiders were looking at him, as a Chiefs fan I’m happy with the Falcons pick…KC is gearing up for that elusiveness 3Pete!🎉

this whole thing just brings back nightmares of me watching the Bears draft Mitch Trubisky. Everything from the audience's shock, the announcers surprised reaction, the overall post draft media confusion, the rumors of other teams coming up to pick the qb, the lack of communication to key personnel about the selection (in Chicago's case it was the HC that wasn't informed until the day of the draft), the lack of due diligence in the pre draft process (Chicago famously did not pursue meeting with Deshaun Watson once they fell in love with Mitch) and overpaying for a seasoned qb the same year they drafted one (Mike Glennon). At the head of this long trail there is one critical similarity, the former Bears GM and current Falcons Dir. of Player Personnel, Ryan "f your couch and dreams" Pace. For Falcons fans and Michael Penix sake, I sure hope things turn out better than it did for us in Chicago.

Also this is telling cousins, we have plans if you don't do your job. I like it. Cousins has never had pressure. Maybe this will make him care about BIG games

They love Penix, did not know who now would be at 8. Hard to move up in draft and probably not picking top ten for awhile. QBs get hurt.

One more question, is there only 1 round in the NFL draft?

I don't see a problem drafting him. Kirk is 36 and coming off injury. I get the fact they didn't bring in immediate help but the offensive is stacked. They needed a defensive player. Penix is a great pick and insurance for the future.

It’s not about the draft pick. It’s about what the draft pick represents!

It’s a lose lose. Kirk plays well and the kid sits and you waste his rookie deal. Kirk plays awful, the kid plays and you have Kirk making $100 million guaranteed.

For the record.....Arthur Blank knew about and personally wanted Penix. The hand gestures and explaination was Terry F. Baby describing what they were doing to try to trade back up into the first round.

I have a question.Are the Falcons one defensive player away from a Super Bowl?

Dan's missing the real message that the GM conveyed when he said, "Cousins is our starting QB, and Penix is our QB of the future." Well the future started today. Cousins will be the guy this year, but after 2024, it'll be open competition. Even this year, Cousins will be on a short leash.

But did it really work out for GB? They had a great window to get to/win the Super Bowl, and they gave Rodgers no help. Which I thought was always the goal in the first place.

It feels like the Falcons panicked and went "We need a QB, think fast." Three straight times. Crazy lol.

Seeing our history with Quarterbacks, it is a wonderful pick. Will it be managed correctly?! That remains to be seen.

The falcons did the right thing! And penix will be legit because of it! The Rodgers excuses always make me laugh. Because by the packers drafting Love, they got two mvps season out of Rodgers. And adding another WR wouldn’t have changed the lackluster efforts of Rodgers not choking in the playoffs, and still throwing to a triple covered Adams, when Lazard and Cobb was WIDE ASS OPEN!! Packers got it right with the Love pick, just like they always get it right when they draft QBs!! #GPG 💯

As a falcons fan this is a good move. We will look back at this different in 5 years.

Getting Russell Wilson contract extension with The Broncos vibes from Atlanta

Is there something the water in atl?

That’s a private moment Lol

Why is everyone trying to spin it like they were explaining the pick to blank?? Dude was literally in there shaking hands with everyone when they made the call

This is the same GM that was jumping up and down celebrating picking Desmond Ridder. 😂

It is interesting how experts miss the boat. Green Bay has three successful QB's. QB's are the most important position. Stability is the most important rule for a football franchise.

That wasn't Leadbetter making a prediction, that was a telepathic, shape-shifting organism, one capable of hijacking a human host and successfully puppeting it, who read the minds of the Atlanta brass to get that information. Goo on you, sentient bow tie, well done.

Blank should sign Fontano and Morris' replacement now for when they're gone. 😂

Its the back to back years of top 10 luxury picks...Bijan in 2023 when you had a 1,000 yard rusher and Jalen Carter was still on the board...then a QB in 2024 after you just spent $100M on a top 10 QB and every single defensive player is on the board and at least one team (Vikings) was calling everybody ahead of them to trade up. If you are in 'win now' mode then taking a talented player that can make an impact immediately or trading down in the attempt to get more than one of those types of players in the right move. For everyone that wants to say its the Packers method of getting good quarterbacks one after the other...what is the measuring stick for that being a success? They had the best QB in the football for 2 seasons and didn't add enough pieces around him to win another Super Bowl.

lets talk about about the NFL DRAFT crowds and TV Ratings VS NBA playoffs , the NBA DREAMS of getting HUGE crowds like that at their draft or the TV ratings the draft gets compared to NBA playoffs games WOW

He’s an amazing player. Part of IU team to beat Michigan and almost beat Ohio State. IU is 0-30 vs those teams. Sole win vs Michigan in program history. And what he did at Washington is remarkable.

Favre-Rodgers-Love. I like the strategy!

They drafted Penix because they have a bit of buyer's remorse on Kirk. They are obviously worried about that Achilles snapping this year and wanted some insurance.

The falcons made the smart move tho

There is always an inherent danger in passing on the best player on the board because that player then goes to other teams who you will face. This is a bigger factor for QBs and a bigger factor the higher up the draft board you go. Penix has a very high ceiling. He could be the next Stroud. When you pass on that not only do you not benefit but another team will. In this situation the split between how much you will lose out on and how much the Vikings could benefit was sufficiently large that ATL had to take Penix. They really had no choice.

The fact is QB get injured bringing in Penix means they have a relatively cheap backup for the duration of Kirk Cousins contact and hopefully someone to take over after it

I am glad for Penix, I like him alot. Atlanta though after tampering, paying Cousins SO much, well I have always thought the Falcons ownership/management/coaching to be smooth brained.

It’s 7 rounds but we worried about the one, btw most of the players in the NFL are not first round picks..

Player whom got booed during the draft: P. Manning, D. McNabb, JJ. Watt, P. Mahomes, J. Allen, and now m. p. Jr. A goat in the making.

Penix will start in 2 years. They did this looking into the future. Next year's draft is WEAK especially in the QB position.

How do these analysts get their jobs? Look at all of the young receivers Aaron Rodgers had, particularly his last season. These young receivers were the key to the Packers success, especially late last year. They did get receivers. They got some very good receivers. They also knew, even before they drafted Jordan love, but the relationship was going sour. There’s no guarantee that if they drafted a wide receiver in the first round, instead of getting Jordan love, they would’ve gotten over the hump to win the Super Bowl. I’ll say right now, they look like they’re going to be relevant and in the discussion for the next several years.

Since the falcons played the pats in the Super Bowl. I no lie had to take a step back as a fan for my personal health. This organization is run by people that don’t understand football.

We should have gotten Dallas Turner!

Falcons should have never signed Cousins is the real story

“They did Cousins dirty” As a falcons fan idc.. that’s Blanks pocket but now we have two actual passers (albeit “injured”) but it’s better than what we had

After Love was drafted, and before he ever played, Packers had two other drafts and still didn’t help Rodgers. Atlanta will likely have a couple drafts before Penix plays. Cousins will get some MORE help. Relax everyone.

Kirk Cousins is not Aaron Rodgers. He has one playoff win in his career. These folks acting like the Falcons insulted the greatest quarterback on terf.

Packers GM saved his job by drafting Jordan Love. He wasn't trying to win a championship, he was trying to keep his job. Can you imagine Rodgers leaving Green Bay if he had CD Lamb? Terry Fontenot same boat. Just trying to prolong his job, screw winning now.

My issue with it is you could have traded back and gotten picks for now and still have him.

Y’all are braindead. Penix will be great for us for a long time. Don’t always have to take need, and if you’re in a prime position to take the guy of the future, you do it. Bet Tennessee regrets taking Corey Davis at pick 4 over Mahomes in 2017. You get the guy you feel best about.

The Penix Jr. pick would have been smart if the Falcons did have other positional needs (hint hint: Defense) and were just drafting for depth... The Falcons & Bills both graded out with a big fat 'F' for Day 1

Bob Kraft told the Falcons to draft a quarterback

Green bay also got Rodgers a gang of young receivers and tight ends soon after getting Love. He chose not to build with them... Maybe they knew not to put all their stock in Aaron at that time.

Gotta love that DEI GM 😂😂

Overpay a QB, draft a QB way too high and miff on hiring Bill B … fun times.

2 years

The Falcons are blowing the benefit of having a franchise QB under a rookie contract by signing Cousins. They knew months ago that they had pick 8. They knew months ago they would have a shot at at least 2 or 3 of the young QB's coming in the draft. The LAST thing they should have done was sign a 35 year old QB coming off achilles surgery to a 4 year big $$$ deal.

As a Falcon fan nothing burns me more than the national media and all these arm chair GMs talking about my team as if they know what we need and how players fit our culture or scheme. Everyone mocked D. Turner to us when in reality Latu would have been the better scheme fit. We couldnt trade down because 3 other teams wanted the our guy. Not only that but if Cousins does his job and we stay relatively healthy we arent going to be in a position to draft a quality QB next yr or the yr after. Its Desmond Ridder all over again. Oh and f*ck Belicheck. Nobody wanted gis old ass down here in the A. MF past his prime and would retire whenever he broke Shulas record.

Whatever strategy Raheem and company, have for my Atlanta falcons with Michael penix, all of you haters can keep on hating😂😂, my birds have a plan for Michael penix and in the end all of you haters will see How it's following in play. And Kirk cousin who I never liked 😠😠🏈🏈, with his crybaby behind because they got somebody to replace him, stop crying you got your money. 12 years in the NFL, how many wins does he have😮😮. Excellent choice Atlanta don't worry about these haters let's get ready for some 2024 winning football 🏈🏈🏈🙂. Michael 2 welcome to Atlanta, 🏈🏈🙂, because we all know who Michael one is 🏈🏈🏈🙂. KING G 🏈🏈😎.

He ripped his Achilles not 5 minutes ago. A lot of qbs …Sanders is the man next year 🤪

If I was penix I'd be pissed knowing he will now have to sit for who knows how long when there were other teams that would've given him an opportunity day 1.

So Kirk is expected to play till he's 40 but Penix can't start at 26/27? I'm not seeing how that makes sense at all

Green Bay was a very good team already and used like the #26 pick to get Love who was like 21 yrs old. Atlanta sucks and they used a #8 pick on a 24 yr old player with a huge injury history.

Am I crazy or is cousins 36 off an Achilles…. He was never more than mid

Or they both play well and they trade kirk in 2 years

Jordan love will win 6 games this year

Packers hardly ever drafted help for Aaron Rogers in 15 + years

This why Atlanta should of signed Russell Wilson. 🤔 Because you wouldn't have to pay a crazy amount and It's not injury prone.

offense wasnt the problem in green bay, they couldnt win with joe barry at d coordinator.

Hey Terry, the future is now

They could also trade him at some point this year or next year…how many QBs started a game last year? Exactly.

You see why these organizations remain at the bottom year after year.

You got to be kidding me the Falcons did Kurt dirty by paying him 100 million guaranteed I like the Falcons to treat me like that

They aren’t locked into 3 years. The can get rid of Cousins next year. There are 20 guys this season with dead cap hits of $20 mil or more. Watson will probably be $100 million when he gets cut by the Browns. Dead cap money is not something that teams care about anymore. Broncos moved on from Russ and took that hit. Everyone said that they wouldn’t do it. And the Chiefs didn’t take the best available wide receiver. They picked the flashy toy that breaks after a week. Which they have done over and over since Tyreke left. Shouldn’t be any problem with what the Bills did after the Chiefs took Worley.

I don't care who the Falcons could have taken, Cousins isn't winning anything in Atlanta. The dude had JJ, Hockinson, Theilen, and at one point Diggs, and still only won a single playoff game. He was suppose to be they guy to get Minnesota over the hump, and yet, the guy he replaced, Case Kenuum, had more success in Minnesota that what Cousins had.

Penix will be the starter in training camp until Kirk is healthy. Good luck Falcons with that controversy.

Mahomes can make anyone better you say? I believe Kadarius Toney would like a word with you.

Bills trading with the Chiefs is the 2nd dumbest thing I saw in round 1, besides Penix to ATL. They need receivers, and they avoided them to the point that they virtually traded the best one on the board to KC. SMDH

Is Atlanta winning the Super Bowl with this #1 pick and this division no.

Drafting a QB who is 24 and sitting behind Cousins and his 4 year deal, will make Penix the starter when he is 28, is not a good business decision.

it’s only a 2yr contract. damn i’m tired of this shit takes just bc it’s atlanta. every draft does not include good QBs. Rodger’s wasn’t injured when they took Love first of all. and second , ppl don’t value developing QBs anymore smh. sit back and watch is work mfs

They did the same thing to Brett favre when they drafted Aaron Rodgers what are you talking about. An Aaron Rodgers got a super bowl

That's such a horrible pick, plan & investment. Like Dan said, if this was the GMs plan, why even sign Cousins to such a big contract? I'm surprised the Blank didn't fire the GM on the spot. 😂

Like cousins really care !… no matter what he’s stilling getting that guaranteed money !!

In the war room .... they were already talking about trying to trade up .... not the stupid stuff you just said

Falcons drafted penix because Arthur Smith didn’t get a QB at #4 and instead drafted Kyle Pitts in 2021. We had Matt Ryan and we still only won 7 games then Matt was traded after we tried to go for a QB in free agency. If we had Drafted Fields maybe we wouldn’t have needed Cousins.

Kirk has never been the type to help the backup QB

Aaron Rodger’s also hates playing with young receivers. As made evident by the fact that Jordan Love was better in his first year as the starter than Aaron was in his last year in Green Bay. Who cares what Kirk or anyone else thinks?

The Dumbest pick of the Night was Atlanta who took a Starter QB in the 1st round just to put him on the bench for the next 3 years 😂😂😂 100 million reasons why Penix would play before he’s 27 years old

Tamper and sign veteran QB coming off an achilles injury for $180m, $130m guaranteed and likely loss of future draft picks. Draft QB with 2 ACL surgeries on same knee who will be 24yo at the start of his rookie season. I like Cousins and Penix, but this is just bad management.

They’ll pay top 10 money for a dude to sit for years😂

it wasn't the right pic at the right time, that doesn't make any sense! Do you think all the quarterbacks that were picked after Penix were better than him? You take what you can get when you can get it! Look at all the superstar quarterbacks 90% of them sat on the bench for at least one if not two or three years before playing! Kirk cousins has 100 million guaranteed for two years if he can't produce get rid of him! he has been an NFL quarterback for way too long without ever winning a Super Bowl!

Kirk is the most expensive bridge QB in history!

Screwed the Atlanta fan base. How much money did the GM receive from another team?

Let's pay Cousins $100m guaranteed, draft a QB in the Top 10 & sit him on the bench for 3 years before he can start full time (baring another Cousins' injury), right when his rookie deal is about up so that you lose out on having a cheap starter to help your CAP out (if they start him without a contract extension & simply pick up his 5th year option, he walks) = crazy! Looking at how messed up our O-Line is right now, WHODAT fans around world Thank You! "Rise UP!.... & walk out." lol!