The Atlanta Falcons surprised many by drafting Washington Huskies quarterback Michael Penix Jr. with the No. 9 overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft. But even though it surprised most fans watching the draft, it wasn’t all that shocking to everyone in the Falcons locker room.
The reason that the move was a jarring one from the Falcons is that they decided to sign star quarterback Kirk Cousins to a huge four-year contract earlier this offseason.
Obviously, both Penix Jr. and Cousins can’t play on the field at the same time together. So for the time being, Penix Jr. will likely sit on the bench and learn from Cousins from the sidelines.
To spend your first-round pick on a player who isn’t likely to play for at least the first four years of his career is a bit of a head-scratching decision for some.
But it turns out that Falcons star safety Jessie Bates is actually in favor of the move. In fact, he said that he was “not surprised” at all by the team selecting Penix this past weekend.
“It wasn’t very surprising to me,” Bates told reporters during a press conference on Tuesday. “I knew what type of player he is. Being from Indiana, I kind of had an idea of who he was and I think he had a couple of almost-upsets against Ohio State. And I just watch football and I can tell that he has a knack and the NFL likes to come out with these cool quotes and stuff like that — I think he’ll bring a lot to this locker room.
“He may not be playing for the first couple of years, but just having that competitive nature in the locker room — whether it’s Kirk Cousins, whether it’s a practice squad player, whether it’s me, whether it’s a practice squad guy, whatever it is, we’re going to compete and make each other better.”
It’s certainly a positive that Penix Jr. appears to have some support in the locker room from his new teammates. But that obviously isn’t the case for everyone in Atlanta, as Kirk Cousins was notably quite shocked and at least somewhat understandably upset with the draft pick by his new team.
