Weeks after signing veteran quarterback Kirk Cousins, the Atlanta Falcons selected Washington Huskies star quarterback Michael Penix Jr. with the No. 8 overall pick in the NFL Draft. Since then, it’s been widely assumed that Cousins would have to serve as a sort of mentor to Penix, but it sounds like the Falcons are expecting Penix to put in the effort to learn from Cousins, not the other way around.
During a press conference, Falcons coach Raheem Morris made it clear that it will be up to Michael Penix Jr. to learn everything he can from Kirk Cousins rather than Cousins taking the time to help him.
“I think the onus really belongs to Michael when it comes to those things,” Morris said in his Tuesday press conference. “Kirk is trying to win a Super Bowl, Kirk is in full-blown preparation mode to set the Atlanta Falcons up for the best success that they can possibly have. And I think you get no better person to sit behind than a Kirk Cousins type of guy. Obviously, there are probably better arguably on other people’s teams but I’m talking about the one on our team.
“I just think it’s a great experience for Michael and I think he will learn a lot from watching him move and move in silence with his guys. He’ll learn on the run because really it’s empathy and humility of Michael that’s going to come out more when it comes to learning those types of things. And I think that’s the most important part of it all. Everybody wants to make Kirk have to tell him what to do, but really he is showing him what to do by his everyday movements and his actions.”
It’s certainly a strange dynamic. We’ll have to see how it works out for them.
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