The Atlanta Falcons made the most shocking decision of the NFL Draft when they decided to select quarterback Michael Penix Jr. with the No. 8 overall pick just weeks after signing Kirk Cousins to a four-year deal worth more than $100 million. And one former NFL player recently explained why that was such a bad idea.
During an appearance on OutKick’s “Hot Mic” on Monday, former NFL defensive back Tank Williams called out the Atlanta Falcons for what he believes was a bad pick, explaining that it ruins any salary cap advantage gained by selecting a young quarterback in the first round if you’re not going to play him immediately.
“When it first went down, that was my initial impression,” Williams said. “If you want to build a winner in the NFL, we’ve already seen what the model is. You lock in a young quarterback who punches above his weight early on in his career, and that allows you to put so many pieces around him because you’re in a better cap situation. We’ve seen it with the Houston Texans. We’ve seen it with so many other teams.”
As Williams explains, the move put the Falcons in “a terrible [salary] cap situation moving forward” since Penix will sit the bench on a rookie contract while Cousins will make over $100 million.
“So, if you knew Michael Penix was going to be your guy, why would you go ahead and guarantee Kirk Cousins over $100 million and then go and draft this guy top 10,” Williams said.
“So, one, you put yourself into a terrible cap situation moving forward. You don’t notify Kirk Cousins what your attentions are, so now your quarterback room is already a little bit jaded from jump street. Then, if you feel like you could win immediately, you got these two quarterbacks on your roster where you have this top-heavy draft pool. You end up wasting on a quarterback when you could’ve had a running back or a wide receiver or an offensive lineman or some of the other pieces to the puzzle, yet you spend it on Michael Penix.”
It’s certainly a puzzling decision from the Falcons.
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