For the first time in half a decade, the Falcons won’t be looking for a quarterback in the NFL Draft, with Michael Penix Jr. set to be the franchise quarterback.
Terry Fontenot and Atlanta’s front office’s attention will turn to the other position groups, hopefully on the defensive side of the ball, this draft. Interestingly, Penix was the fourth quarterback taken off the board a year ago, but there seems to be some thinking that he would be regarded higher in this year’s cycle.
According to Daniel Flick of Sports Illustrated, draft expert Daniel Jeremiah told reporters earlier this week that Penix would be above Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders, who is viewed as a possible top 5 pick, this season.
This is more of an indictment on the 2025 crop of quarterbacks than anything. 2024 was loaded, so much so that Penix was actually ranked as the sixth-best quarterback in Jeremiah’s rankings, behind Caleb Williams, Drake Maye, Jayden Daniels, J.J. McCarthy, and Bo Nix.
DJ graded the top signal caller of the upcoming cycle, Cam Ward, similarly to Nix, showing just how weak this class is and how grateful Falcons fans should be that the club decided to do the unthinkable and draft Michael Penix Jr. last year.
I always say, a good result doesn’t justify a bad process. Make no mistake about it, the Falcons offseason was poorly planned a year ago. Giving Kirk Cousin $180 million in free agency and then drafting his successor about six weeks later was a bad process. Tying up that many resources in the quarterback is hindering Terry Fontenot this offseason.
Still, the overarching theme of the NFL is very simple — find a franchise quarterback and figure the rest out later. The Falcons loved Michael Penix Jr., and even though it didn’t exactly mesh with the rest of the offseason decisions, you draft that quarterback if you believe in him.
It’s the most important position in all of sports, and the Falcons have their guy in Michael Penix. It may have been unorthodox, but sometimes, it doesn’t matter.
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Jeff Robinson/Icon Sportswire
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