Penix is 24 years old. Jordan Love was 21 years old when the Packers drafted him. Aaron Rodgers was in Green Bay for over a decade with a Super Bowl ring and MVPs to his name. Kirk is brand new in Atlanta, the same time as Penix, both trying to win the locker room. STOP COMPARING THE TWO.

Penix ran a 4.58 40 last month. He and Kirk Cousins are not the same lol

How many of the people that dissed the pick will admit they were wrong when it works out?

😂 I bet the Jets wish they had taken a good QB in last years draft

If making 100 mil in 2 years is awkward then sign me up!

They just told Kirk he's only on the team for two years, not four.

What the analyst always neglect to mention is we don’t know what could have happened? Would GB have gotten at least one Super Bowl with another star player….if Atlanta is 4-4, would a stud d-lineman or another wr have made the difference. I would gladly be mediocre for 4 years if I got a SB in there

As soon as there is a weakness in the defense or offense and the Falcons lose a few games as a result then everyone is going to question whether that draft pick could have been used elsewhere.

History repeats its self. Kirk went 4th rd when RG3 was drafted. Bring RG3 on and ask him how he felt about it.

Differences between the Penix and Jordan Love pick 1. The Packers pick was 16 picks later than the Falcons. 2. Unlike Aaron Rodgers who had been the Packers QB forever, the falcons signed (and arguably overpaid) Cousins this same offseason. 3. The Packers were a perennial playoff team while the Falcons have had 3 straight 7-win seasons. Don’t have the luxury to pick for the future when they haven’t proven they can win now.

My late cousin was very involved with the Atlanta Chiefs years ago, and he played a big part with NAFL. He was Commissioner too. We met him at a family reunion with golfing side of the clan. A kind and gentle man,it was a privilege to talk with him. It looks like the younger members of our family are now heading the same way, very sporty and crazy about football and beloved Arsenal!

all I can think is the ATL brass must of went to his workouts and were so impressed that no f's were given about drafting him at the 8. in some way I get it...barring injury or disastrous performance by Cousins, Penix can sit for a year or 2, maybe 3 then take the reins. you figure with Kirk, you got what maybe a contracts worth of years left for him to play being he's in his late 30's. so 3-5 years??? Penix, a decade plus possibly revisit in 2028-2029

As NFL insider myself this was good move but guys who are not insiders just do not understand the move because they do not realize that the NFL is quarterback league .

Ironically, if the Jets decided to draft an heir apparent franchise qb last year, it would’ve been a good decision lol

Man that Netflix QB show really got yall fooled on who Kirk Cousin really is.... meh

Just like “Any Given Sunday” wit Jamie Foxx 😂 we all kno how it ends🤞🏾😎

I like this guy. I heard him, I thought I was the only person who thought this made sense. He articulated the reasons much better than I did. But this is a great move. Let’s face it, Kirk cousins was a bridge guy anyway.

So this guy, who's coming off an Achilles injury (which is killer for YT ppl in sports) at 35 yrs of age and is an interception machine, and ppl think the Falcons don't need any insurance? I'm shocked that these football "experts" haven't seen this at all.

People keep saying “if Penix is good…, get rid of Cousins”. But look at how many top of the draft qb’s there are in the league as backups or busts. And the Falcons recently had one in Mariotta that they thought they could revive. But if Penix doesn’t pan out, they’ve wasted the pick, they’d have to ride out Cousins as he gets really old. Then they have to do what they could have just done anyway. Get another free agent qb or move up in the draft on some other future draft prospect.

Does ATL have a right tackle to protect Penix, and a second playbook for a leftie QB?

I think we did a good job in the draft

The real question is: Should the draft be held before free agency opens?

They paid him $100 million then immediately drafted his replacement who is already 24 and you burn at least two years of his rookie contract. Trade cousins? He’s got a no trade clause. You can’t convince me this wasn’t stupid.

AS far as Tee Higgins and Brandon Aiyuk being traded. I agree if both team's are Super Bowl contender's they are not trading them. But due to injuries or other reasons. If either team is looking doubtful for a Super Bowl run by the Trade deadline. I could see either team trading the player's to a contender and receiving trade value.

You can argue that it didn't really work out for the Packers because they didn't win a SB. They really could have used another playmaker in those final years AR12 was there to get that ring more that a bqck up QB selectedin the 1st round.

The spin on this pic is wild. You're going to tell me that you're going to draft a 24-year-old quarterback and sit him for 2 years so he'll be 26 and then that's going to be your franchise quarterback going forward assuming that he even is the guy once you get them on the team?? If Penix was 3 years younger maybe I could get that.

The Falcons D is much better than people are giving them credit for. We win 4-5 more games if Ridder doesn’t throw terrible picks over and over last year. Arthur Smith was a dumpster fire as well. Grady getting hurt was another huge kick in the 🥜 for us. We will be competitive this year. Cousins makes that possible. We also got 3 DL and a LB in the middle rounds this year. Penix is a better prospect than most of the guys coming up next year at QB. They went ahead and got their guy for the future. As a falcons fan I don’t mind the pick. I never want to see Taylor Heineke again. This is business. I don’t care about Kirk’s feelings. He has his money and he is the starter. Now all he has to do is go win. We drafted Vic Beasley and Takk McKinnley when Dan Quinn was here. They were supposed to be the next big thing. We see how that worked out. What’s to say Dallas Turner or Rome Odunze would have moved the needle for this team. It’s an expensive gamble but I’ll take it to get a guy we really believe in to solidify our future. We have to be competitive right away. That’s why we gave Kirk the money, but we also don’t want to risk another 5 year downturn because we didn’t prepare his successor.

Man it makes sense but it doesn't I understand the future thing just in case cousins ain't there forever but why pick a guy so high and sit him for two years or three that's a little crazy to me 😮‍💨😂

When Cousins is taking every Tuesday off Penix will be winning the locker over and balling out.

Stick to your convictions Ian, I’m with you. I was for Penix before Cousin was brought to the organization. These fans and analyst quickly address the Falcons failures to win and when they grab a QB that would get us to at least playoff caliber, they’re complaining how the cooks prepared the meal.

All the Penix apologists are assuming that it's a given that Penix is going to be good. The odds are pretty firmly in the complete opposite corner.

the people driving the storylines is the only distraction tbh. the decision was quite simple. get insurance

Fontenot has been there three years now. What makes him think he’ll last beyond this year if the team doesn’t make the playoffs after giving Cousins 100 million guaranteed?

We drafted Pitts and y'all hated it..We drafted Robinson even though we had Tyler Algeir...We are building a Dynasty while rest of Nfl watching every movie

Ian Rapoport keeps bringing up the Jordan Love comparison in what Atlanta did. Love was the 26th Pick in the first round not the 8th pick. It's not a comparison as the 26th pick can sit. The Colts took Anthony Richardson who was 20 with the 5th pick and the Colts started him. Penix is 23 he needs to start right now not 2 years later. What if Penix is THAT good he should start immediately? I have zero issue with taking Penix the question is why over pay Cousins and not sign a less expensive FA QB and spend FA Money to improve the roster? It's Roster Mismanagement.

Rapoport is basically just a mouthpiece for front offices. Of course he’s gonna carp for the brain trust in Atlanta.

The jets thing is kinda weird cause with how things played out they would have looked like geniuses if they drafted a qb in the first after signing Roger’s lol

So much disrespect for Kirk Cousins ranking him outside the top 10 of current quarterbacks. He put up MVP numbers before the injury last season after setting a record for 4th quarter comebacks the year before and putting up Hall of Fame numbers over the last 12 seasons. It blows my mind. And he did it all with the worst rated O-line over his 6 years in Minnesota. His average playoff game is better than Tom Brady's average playoff game despite being sacked more than 3 times as often. It makes no sense.

No matter how you feel about the Falcons, there is one other more important thing. And that’s starting your day with a wholesome, nutritious breakfast rich in grains and breads. Don’t forget about fresh fruit too, very important 😊

If Atlanta is right about Penix, this is a footnote in his career. If not, Atlanta has a generational embarrassment. I can understand what Ian is saying, but a top 8 pick is very expensive insurance policy or an important missed opportunity to improve, depending on how the future goes.

The Falcons effectively demoted Cousins to a placeholder, clearly he thought he was coming in as starting QB for now and the next couple....they've shown no confidence in him.

This move only makes sense if it makes sense.

The panthers GM should be fired NOW.

If ATL starts losing that dynamic is going to be magnified.

It's impossible to make this move make sense so let's stop trying.

Kirk LEFT MINNESOTA in part because Minnesota was HONEST unlike ATL and told him we're going to use a high pick on your replacement. ATL lied to Kirk by ommission.

Green Bay and Atlanta are not the same thing

Ian is spot on

so as people process this stupidity i think the consensus is cousins is a two yr deal.... behind closed doors this is most likely being communicated to penix and for him to be patient. what if cousins takes them to the superbowl in yr 2? do you tell him thanks.. and bye bye? thats a crap load of pressure for penix to follow. do you keep an old qb for maybe one more yr and tell penix tough chit? bottom line? you will have drama from multiple paths chosen.

Is no one thinking about Cousin's injury or if he gets injured again?

This guy is wilding. He so mad

Remember when Cousins was drafted behind RG3? Why is this such a surprise? Tf!

Age and rookie contract window, makes this “long term investment” argument poor. This was a bad pick. Maybe it pans out to be great, but that’d be by luck. This is objectively a bad pick, don’t get cute about it

Kirk can be dumped yr3 sure they eat 10 mil but thats not as much as it used to be especially with cap going up every year. Maybe he waves his trade clause they trade em to the Raiders next year

Everybody got there Kurt cousins cape on! Y’all made dude the number 1 free agent not the falcons

To me its the age 24 already and he's gonna wait 2 years yikes

Jordan Love was not a top 10 pick.

Smartest thing the Falcons have done in at least a decade. Folks jealous they have 2 talented QBs.

These 2 hate 1 another lol

Wow, Charles Oakley doesnt even try to emblemize his brand logo. Good for him.. I think A. Hutchinson stole his from a chicken coop manufacturer.

Seem unconscionable to not take a playmaker with the 8th pick to win now. Penix is also a ready now qb. You need the best 45 to win. Silly to draft Penix. The one thing is we don't have worry about the Falcons being good as they saddle their salary cap with qb salaries.

Kirk pretty good reg season qb

Rapaport comparing Cousins to Rogers is ridiculous…I’m no Rogers fan, but he said it out of his own mouth. Rogers then won back to back MVP’s. Cousins has NEVER been that guy…

Created an off-season distraction. Self inflicted wound. Smh

The Falcons are gonna Falcon…they just can’t get out of their own way. That franchise is never going to amount to anything…

I mean, wouldn't the Jets have been smart to have drafted a QB before last season? And the Vikings? Everybody wants to be so angry and confused about the Falcons drafting Penix, but they keep proving the Falcons right by all these discussions. The Chiefs drafted Patrick Mahomes #10 when they had Alex Smith on a playoff team. But they had to give up an extra 1st round pick and a 3rd pick to move up to get him. Looking back it was a steal, but at the time nobody knew Mahomes would be the best player in the league. But it drives the point home. To get a franchise QB you have to get one in the top 10 and if you aren't in the top 10 it takes a haul to get there. So the Falcons only use one pick to get a QB who they think can be a starter and they won't have to spend a haul to draft one in 2 years. I think it was brilliant. Raheem Morris got 17 sacks out of two rookies drafted in the 3rd round by the Rams last year. So I'm willing to see what the 3 DL players they drafted in rounds 2-4 can produce and we'll see how much better Dallas Turner, Latu or Verse are. I'm willing to bet it won't be some huge gap.

If kirk can't come back right from Injury it'll be a great pick people think he won alot of title games

The Falcons proving why they will forever be a poverty franchise without a Super Bowl win

Everyone flamed Atlanta saying we were a qb away and wasting all our talent. We secure the future and everyone is mad. Everyone hates it because it’s the popular thing to do right now. Keep the same energy later. Rich takes are getting worse every year.

The Falcons made the right move. Cousins is a Merc, he goes where the money is. They shouldn't worry about his feelings.

I bet all the jet fans and players wish they drafted a QB last year. Seeing how good their defense played & having a great WR & RB. But their star old QB they just traded for got hurt in the 1st game. As a falcon fan. I didn’t see my team play in the playoffs in 6 years. I wanna see them there now. That’s what cousins brings to this already good roster. And as a falcon fan again it’s been 6 years. With bad play calling & bad qb play. I don’t want another 6 years bringing garbage QBs to wait till we find a QB in the draft after cousins leaves or get hurt. I’m good off that. Jets, Dolphins, Washington, Giants, Bucs, Saints will feel that once car plays just good enough to give them the 16 pick if the draft. Now they can’t trade up to top 3 to find a QB unless they give up 3 1st round picks. To hopefully find somebody. Look at 49ers if they didn’t get lucky with their last pick of the draft. They would have traded all those picks, their starting QB for Trey Lance. With no plan for a back up. With that offense & defense. Falcons did it smart. Cousin play great this year. They draft a defensive player 1st round. And whatever position they feel they need based off what happens this season.

The media sees starting quarterbacks as needing to be protected emotionally. The media thinks that a franchise must not have a strong backup because it feels that the starter will be too insecure in his position and will be ineffective because of this. The quarterback position is the most important position on the team but franchises are expected to gamble on the success and physical well-being of a single player instead of preparing for more than that.

A lot of this backlash is from the Falcons not hiring Belechick. Cousins is 36 coming off of a major injury and has been the poster boy of mediocrity for years and because the front office decided to be proactive, all the media and talking heads are in an uproar.

Something is being taken from a over paid quarterback....and its. Penix

Ian are you insane? You would've been fine if the jets took a qb after trading for rodgers?? Dang, people really can be good with anything.

Fontenot needs a gold medal in mental gymnastics trying to justify that decision.

You can't win with a Pocket QB then what the HELL was Tom Brady, I didn't see Brady moving around EVER and He won the SB with TWO Teams!! Penix not The GOAT but all these reasons are ridiculous. GREAT PICK, He will be BETTER than Cousins and that's all he has to be.

Ian is getting paid by Falcons

Ian Raporport said nothing here lol

Is it true the Atlanta newspapers are misspelling the X with an S in Penix name?

It’s very simple… Penix got screwed over Cousins got screwed over The Falcons failed to do anything that raised their ceiling above a divisional round exit

Y’all need to stop.

👀👀👀👆

Rich knows nothing !

Excellent take on this from Rapoport. I'm not a Falcons fan, but I get their pick 100% and love it. You'll all see.

Kirk Cousins is top 10 based on tangible metrics.

Ian is 100% spot on. Ask the Jets if they would have wanted Penix last year. Cousins is getting injury prone and Penix is both an insurance policy this year as well as the Falcons future.

The reason Eisen has been and continues to act so personally offended about it is because he's such a biased homer that he's butt hurt Penix went before McCarthy

lol.. ian sounds like a hired gun. does he really believe this crap? the packers may have won superbowls if they had used the 1st round pick on a decent weapon for rodgers. the biggest harm done to the falcons by the tweedle brothers is they passed on getting the number one defensive player in college football. the falcons have the worst pass rush in the last six yrs... coincidentally they failed to make the playoffs in these same last six yrs. hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm... is there a correlation? gee.... i wonder. what the falcons are famous for is losing on last minute drives where they just can't put pressure on the opposing qb's. atl drafted several "pass rushers" in later rounds but failed to fill a huge hole at CB. this is why ian isnt employed by an actual team.... he is a mercenary for the media.

Couldn’t care less, love seeing the falcons make awful decisions, they’ll always be mediocre

How likely is it that Cousins misses more than 2 games this year?

The question isn't will these players be good, the pick is Judged by its timing as well. The packers had just lost the NFC championship game the year before. The Falcons had just paid 100 million for a QB. We should have just not signed Kirk if we were going to do this. The packers could have added a piece to go for a ring. Instead, they settled for future job security.

Atlanta finally grew some nuts, identical outrage to when Mahomes was chosen. Not a falcon fan but they did the right thing

Odunze, Bowers or best defensive player in the dràft. No, lets take backup QB 😆

Michael Penix was the least sacked QB

In the present NFL, if you don't have two Quarterbacks that can win games, you put every other player and coach on your team in jeopardy of a wasted season.

Top 5 arm in NFL right now, really? Horrible pick by bad organization.

This is exactly what loser franchises do! You either draft Penix OR you sign Cousins, BUT NOT BOTH!

Rap STILL carrying the bag for the Falcons. This move ONLY makes sense if they did not sign Cousins. I mean did Rap even see the presser when Cousins was introduced? They botched it. Period. Trade Cousins ??? With that Guarantee $$$. Give me a break Rap....Stop carrying the Falcons water

Nobody is talking about that this is a Raheem Morris thing that he wanted. He's a terrible head coach with basically a 33% win rate. Morris is out there playing pretend (linebacker) in an evaluation with Pennix. I think the kid is solid, but The Falcons will be in the doldrums of the NFL for 2-3 years until Morris is fired AGAIN. Then the Falcons have to start all over AGAIN. Nobody EVER questions the Morris hire in Atlanta because of DE&I. NFL if a meritocracy, UNLESS you meet certain demographic conditions. Look at Mike Tomlin in Pittsburgh. In a typical NFL situation, he'd be LONG gone. Mike Smith got the Falcons to the playoffs basically every year. He got fired. That's the NFL. UNLESS you're a certain demographic. It's just forced racism.