The Atlanta Falcons made the most shocking selection of the NFL Draft last week when they decided to select Washington Huskies quarterback Michael Penix Jr. with the No. 8 overall pick just weeks after signing veteran quarterback Kirk Cousins to a four-year contract worth more than $100 million. But it sounds like there was a real strategy involved in the decision.
During a recent interview, Falcons Assistant General Manager Kyle Smith explained that the decision was fueled by the team’s desire to have stability at the quarterback position for the foreseeable future as well as the fear of not having a strong quarterback.
“It was an unsettling feeling, sitting there in ’21,” Smith said according to Terrin Waack of the Atlanta Falcons team website. “I’ll never forget sitting there with Terry and being like, ‘OK, well, what’s our future? What’s our plan for the future? How are we going to solidify down the road?’
“It’s not just about this year or next year. It’s about five years, minimum.”
It’s certainly a unique approach to solving the problem of stability at the quarterback position and it will be interesting to see how it works out for them over the next several years.
