Cousins stunned Falcons took Penix (1 Viewer)

[The Unrest Cure]

I'd criticize the pick, but then we have to remember exactly how many QBs the Saints have taken in the 1st round the last 43 years or so: one. I can't fault the Falcons for pulling the trigger on a possible franchise QB. When you get that chance you take it, because without that franchise QB you are just mediocre anyways.

In the NFL there are only two types of front office: those who are looking ahead and those playing catchup. Which do you think the Saints fall into right now? And which the Falcons? I don't like them, but it takes balls to make this pick, and I wish we had more of that and less of DA. If it doesn't work out for them GREAT. If it does? Uh-oh.

 

[Saints 4 life]

 

[Sun Wukong]

Looks like they are going with the Green Bay QB strategy, take them before you need them and develop them. Too bad we have no strategy and a mediocre QB.

That strategy makes no sense with Penix, who will be 24 years old next month and has a major injury history. He's old by draftee standards.

 

[jasonsw]

Makes no sense, why sign Cousins if you were just going to draft a qb in the 1st rd.

You threw away much money and you are wasting a Qbs free years essentially

 

[Sun Wukong]

I'd criticize the pick, but then we have to remember exactly how many QBs the Saints have taken in the 1st round the last 43 years or so: one. I can't fault the Falcons for pulling the trigger on a possible franchise QB. When you get that chance you take it, because without that franchise QB you are just mediocre anyways.

In the NFL there are only two types of front office: those who are looking ahead and those playing catchup. Which do you think the Saints fall into right now? And which the Falcons? I don't like them, but it takes balls to make this pick, and I wish we had more of that and less of DA. If it doesn't work out for them GREAT. If it does? Uh-oh.

They just paid a quarterback $180 mil. in free agency, only to draft his replacement, who is 24 years old and has a major injury history. Even if the strategy is to sit him for a few years, he will be pushing thirty by the time he becomes a starter. That's not even getting into the long term cap implications or the fact that current reports that are Cousins is not happy at all. It wasn't ballsy, it was dumb. Idiotic. Completely stupid.

 

[DerrickB]

 

[PanicFootball]

Falcons gonna Falcon.

 

[donato]

Seems like an odd overpay. I suppose the other side of the coin says at least they're trying. Their QB room looks a lot more promising than ours does both for this season and the future. These QB picks often end up as either gold or worthless. If it hits, then they're geniuses.

 

[The Unrest Cure]

They just paid a quarterback $180 mil. in free agency, only to draft his replacement, who is 24 years old and has a major injury history. Even if the strategy is to sit him for a few years, he will be pushing thirty by the time he becomes a starter. That's not even getting into the long term cap implications or the fact that current reports that are Cousins is not happy at all. It wasn't ballsy, it was dumb. Idiotic. Completely stupid.

In Cousins' 3rd year, if he is a post-June 1 cap cut, he would represent only a $12.5 million cap hit for each of the 2026 & 2027 seasons. Not ideal, but hardly insurmountable. *If* Penix is good enough to play, he would be 26 at the beginning of the 2026 season, and would have at least 2 more seasons under his rookie contract, roughly at the time their young skill players would be entering their final years and be eligible for extensions. If you kept Cousins for the full 3 years Penix would be 27 at the beginning of his 4th season, not 30 (and which would only give 1 year of play before needing to extend, so I assume Cousins will only be there 2 years, not 3 or 4). Would you prefer a QB who plays outstanding football on a rookie contract for all 4 years of that contract? Obviously. But those are few & far between.

I hope the Falcons fail in this. I hope it blows up in their face. It very well may. I haven't been right about a rookie QB since Dan McGwire (!), so it doesn't matter too much to me if I am wrong here. But I can appreciate that the Falcons moved boldly to identify and claim a player they have a vision for (ideally!), even if it isn't the best pick for today. Maybe if we had done that same thing for the QB position instead of chasing oft-injured freak DEs in the draft we wouldn't be where we are now. I'm not worried about Cousins; he is a professional who will give his all and try his hardest to lead his team. If he is offended to make $100 million guaranteed on a possible 2 year contract then more of us need to be offended by our employers. Arthur Blank and Terry Fontenot expressed 100 million reasons they were confident in Cousins, and he will reciprocate. I imagine they took a critical look at their franchise, realized that if Cousins plays slightly better than average they will be caught in a cycle of mediocrity, never able to get a high pick, and thus having to keep Cousins because they couldn't find a good QB to draft in the teens and 20s each year in the first round ... which would extend the mediocrity further. Thus the chance on Penix.

Anyway, that is my defense of their insanity. I'm now going back to the Best Butts thread where I belong.

 

[Carbon]

In Cousins' 3rd year, if he is a post-June 1 cap cut, he would represent only a $12.5 million cap hit for each of the 2026 & 2027 seasons. Not ideal, but hardly insurmountable. *If* Penix is good enough to play, he would be 26 at the beginning of the 2026 season, and would have at least 2 more seasons under his rookie contract, roughly at the time their young skill players would be entering their final years and be eligible for extensions. If you kept Cousins for the full 3 years Penix would be 27 at the beginning of his 4th season, not 30 (and which would only give 1 year of play before needing to extend, so I assume Cousins will only be there 2 years, not 3 or 4). Would you prefer a QB who plays outstanding football on a rookie contract for all 4 years of that contract? Obviously. But those are few & far between.

I hope the Falcons fail in this. I hope it blows up in their face. It very well may. I haven't been right about a rookie QB since Dan McGwire (!), so it doesn't matter too much to me if I am wrong here. But I can appreciate that the Falcons moved boldly to identify and claim a player they have a vision for (ideally!), even if it isn't the best pick for today. Maybe if we had done that same thing for the QB position instead of chasing oft-injured freak DEs in the draft we wouldn't be where we are now. I'm not worried about Cousins; he is a professional who will give his all and try his hardest to lead his team. If he is offended to make $100 million guaranteed on a possible 2 year contract then more of us need to be offended by our employers. Arthur Blank and Terry Fontenot expressed 100 million reasons they were confident in Cousins, and he will reciprocate. I imagine they took a critical look at their franchise, realized that if Cousins plays slightly better than average they will be caught in a cycle of mediocrity, never able to get a high pick, and thus having to keep Cousins because they couldn't find a good QB to draft in the teens and 20s each year in the first round ... which would extend the mediocrity further. Thus the chance on Penix.

Anyway, that is my defense of their insanity. I'm now going back to the Best Butts thread where I belong.

If you look at Cousins' deal as a 2 year deal it makes more sense. Yeah, they'll have a couple years of dead cap hits but I'd think as Saints fans we're used to that sort of thing.

 

[B4YOU]

In Cousins' 3rd year, if he is a post-June 1 cap cut, he would represent only a $12.5 million cap hit for each of the 2026 & 2027 seasons. Not ideal, but hardly insurmountable. *If* Penix is good enough to play, he would be 26 at the beginning of the 2026 season, and would have at least 2 more seasons under his rookie contract, roughly at the time their young skill players would be entering their final years and be eligible for extensions. If you kept Cousins for the full 3 years Penix would be 27 at the beginning of his 4th season, not 30 (and which would only give 1 year of play before needing to extend, so I assume Cousins will only be there 2 years, not 3 or 4). Would you prefer a QB who plays outstanding football on a rookie contract for all 4 years of that contract? Obviously. But those are few & far between.

I hope the Falcons fail in this. I hope it blows up in their face. It very well may. I haven't been right about a rookie QB since Dan McGwire (!), so it doesn't matter too much to me if I am wrong here. But I can appreciate that the Falcons moved boldly to identify and claim a player they have a vision for (ideally!), even if it isn't the best pick for today. Maybe if we had done that same thing for the QB position instead of chasing oft-injured freak DEs in the draft we wouldn't be where we are now. I'm not worried about Cousins; he is a professional who will give his all and try his hardest to lead his team. If he is offended to make $100 million guaranteed on a possible 2 year contract then more of us need to be offended by our employers. Arthur Blank and Terry Fontenot expressed 100 million reasons they were confident in Cousins, and he will reciprocate. I imagine they took a critical look at their franchise, realized that if Cousins plays slightly better than average they will be caught in a cycle of mediocrity, never able to get a high pick, and thus having to keep Cousins because they couldn't find a good QB to draft in the teens and 20s each year in the first round ... which would extend the mediocrity further. Thus the chance on Penix.

Anyway, that is my defense of their insanity. I'm now going back to the Best Butts thread where I belong.

"There are $10 million roster bonuses due on the 5th day of the 2026 and 2027 league years."

A post-June 1 cut in 2026 still costs them 17.5M in both 2026/27 for a total dead cap of 35M. Cousins deal is a 2yr-100M with 25M in dead cap for 2026. The plan has to be: Cousins plays two years, gets cut for 25M dead money, and Penix starts at 25yo in 2026. ATL get cheap at QB just when young talent needs to be resigned.

I'm surprised they didn't go with a piece that helps them win now. Cousins should be double PO'ed as they drafted his replacement at 9 instead of a contributor to a SB run.

 

[DerrickB]

 

[SaintStephen1]

They missed the playoffs and they are drafting a QB in the 1st for…?

The Packers strategy gets talked up but they were contenders when they took their QB’s of the future. Spending a 1st was not a huge opportunity cost when they already had a winning roster (made it to the NFCCG the year before drafting Love, won the division the third time in a row before drafting Rodgers).

They’re looking two years out when all those young weapons will be in their prime. Also short term insurance for an old guy with an Achilles.
Wish Saints had drafted a good QB in Brees last two years, although Penix injury prone himself.

 

[No2DC]

Picking a QB instead of a playmaker at no. 8 after throwing out a huge FA contract is a curveball. But Cousins shouldn’t be surprised at a 1st round QB. He’s 36 years old recovering from an Achilles injury and most of his 90M guaranteed money is paid in the 1st two years. His deal is designed for the Falcons to have a short term playoff run with him while they get his last best years. He probably won’t be playing at a high level anymore at 38 years old in 2026. They had to prepare accordingly while they had the opportunity with the QB that they wanted.

Penix wouldn’t have made it past the Vikings 2nd 1st rounder at #23. It’s possible that the Vikings wanted him over JJ at 11th. Broncos, Seahawks, and Rams picks were in between too. He never would’ve made it to the 2nd round.

I agree, Kirk has 1-2 more years left and Morris just gave himself job security with Kirk. I think a lot of teams had Penix higher than we thought and he would not have made it to the twenties.

 

[jahsoul357]

I agree, Kirk has 1-2 more years left and Morris just gave himself job security with Kirk. I think a lot of teams had Penix higher than we thought and I would not have made it to the twenties.

Anybody looking at actual quarterbacking and not just off schedule highlight plays would have had him slotted higher too. When he ran his 40, I knew he was going to get picked higher than what many believed.