Falcons Drafting Penix Is “Biggest Head Scratcher” Rich Eisen Has Seen in 21 Years of Covering Draft

obviously the stories uh uh going into

this draft all about the quarterbacks

and the draft did not disappoint on that

front it it's rare to see the

quarterback to General pick population

hit rate be at

50% it went from 100% then down to

75% it didn't get below 50% in terms of

quarterbacks being drafted compared to

the number of picks that had already

been made on the draft board and till

pick seven we saw an amazing amount of

choices at quarterback three in a row to

start and then pick eight Pick 10 Pick

12 all quarterbacks and that is

something that we were expecting to be

possible we've never seen a draft with

four straight quarterbacks to start that

did not happen in this one but we've

never seen four out of the first eight

picks spe quarterbacks five of the first

10 pick spe quarterbacks and six of the

first 12 picks spe quarterbacks we've

never seen that before but the one that

stands out amongst all of them the one

that was the least chalky of all of them

was Michael penck Jr going to Atlanta

and in terms of that I have been

fortunate to be doing this draft for 21

years with NFL Network this is my 18th

draft gavel to gavel and there have been

many head scratchers in the NFL draft

but none being more of a universal

industrywide heads scratcher than the

one that we saw last night Michael penx

Jr number eight overall going to Atlanta

and let me finish my sentence by saying

this this has nothing to do with Michael

penck Jr's abilities you've heard us

talk about this kid out of the

Washington program from the Indiana

program to the Washington program

everything that has gone into making him

the man that he is this has nothing to

do with that I believe he's worthy of a

top 10 pick in the NFL draft we had Kurt

Warner Pro Football Hall of Famer my

colleague from the NFL Media Group

sitting in this chair to my left on this

set yesterday he said he thought that

Michael penck Jr in his mind was a

better choice at quarterback in this

draft than Drake May which is saying a

lot this has nothing to do with Michael

penck Jr's ability and everything to do

with what the Atlanta Falcons did in

free agency in advance of making this

pick I have no earthly

idea why a team would go and sign Kirk

Cousins for the amount of money that

they did and also run the risk of a

tampering charge in the process of doing

it and giving this man a generational

salary at quarterback over maybe if it's

four years the entire contract being

four years long we were wondering would

he actually finish this contract in

Atlanta I'll tell you one person who

thought he would finish this contract in

Atlanta and his name is Kirk Cousins

this guy is the guy who showed up starts

throwing out first pitches at the Braves

game talks about this is his last stop

of his career I'll tell you what

Atlanta's not going to be the last stop

of this man's career cuz Michael penck

Jr being drafted eighth overall and

starting the clock his first quarterback

contract in the NFL mandates that he

starts at some point in this contract

and he starts at some point in this

contract before Kirk Cousins ever

imagined another quarterback would be

brought in to take his starting role I

have no idea why Atlanta would want to

do that with Kirk Cousins coming in in

the manner in which he came in and the

amount of the red carpet that they

rolled out for him and the doubt that

they're now going to be placing within

his mind and that locker room his

ability to stroll in there and say this

is my team this is my franchise this is

my new city has now been compromised

because they brought this kid in eighth

overall his ability to look at this kid

in the face and say let's talk about

what you need to do to become a terrific

quarterback in this league as great a

human as Kirk Cousins is and has shown

to be you have to sit there and wonder

how he's going to be with this kid in

this quarterback

room another thing to point out here the

doubt that might be in cousins' mind and

anybody else in this locker room that

wants to be in the cousins Camp fully

and completely has to sit here and

wonder at what point did they fall in

love with Michael penck Jr was it

watching him be a Collegiate quarterback

in Washington was it him being a

quarterback in uh in the championship

game against Michigan struggling but

also seeing what he did against Texas we

we heard and Ian rap report's going to

come on here and I'm wondering if he can

confirm this they did not have a top 30

visit with Michael penck Jr they went

and chatted with him at the combine and

had a 45 minute meeting with him

watching a workout of him in Washington

and that's it when did they fall in love

with Michael pennick was it in the

process of signing Kirk Cousins to a

4-year $180 million contract that pays

him $90 million of guaranteed money did

they do that during that Pro after

signing him Tom pelisa our buddy Tommy P

who is going to sit in in for for me

when I'm with the Roku new fronts next

week in New York he had the line of the

day on good morning football today he

said it's basically like cheating on

your wife during the honeymoon is

essentially what he said that's what it

is you're in the honeymoon phase right

now and you're going to bring in a kid

who by the way is also 24 years old when

he takes the field if he does it all for

the Atlanta Falcons this year so if

cousins plays the two years and they do

finally stick out two years by the way

for the 90 million bucks that he's

guaranteed to be paid over those two

years and they do stick penck out there

he'll be a 27y old guy who's not played

much of a snap in the NFL at all that's

how penx is going to get borne into this

league so the question is what was the

thinking of Terry fno the general

manager of the Atlanta Falcons and he

next to Raheem Morris in a press conf

that was very highly watched last night

had this to say after choosing Michael

penck Jr eighth

overall at the end of the day if you

believe in a player at that position you

because if we're all sitting here a few

years from now whenever it is and this

guy's playing pretty good for somebody

regardless of the situation regardless

of you sit and look back then and and we

pass them up you can't do that if you

believe in a quarterback you have to

take him and if he sits for four or five

years that's that's that's a great

problem to have because because we're

doing so well at that position so it's

it's just as as simple as if if you see

a guy that you believe in at that

position you have to take him I mean to

wait for four or five years and I think

that was Wild Well I think Terry fno is

saying that because he does need to

address the guy who they paid all this

generational money to to be a free agent

and comeing to win now the sense in

Atlanta was let's win now and the sense

is when you do do that in free agency

and you're a quarterback needy team and

you're eighth overall on the clock that

now allows you to take the best player

available to supplement the arrival of

Kirk Cousins to maybe trade out to trade

down the de the uh the de the Dallas

Turner selection that everybody had them

in their mock drafts Dallas Turner wound

up going 17th overall Minnesota traded

up one more time to go get him he wound

up being 17th over Byron Murphy who

would have been a very nice addition in

the middle of the defensive line for

Atlanta to help out win now and win a

division right now if not a Super Bowl

right now he went 16th overall you could

have traded out into those

spots you could have traded out into

those spots and gotten those guys and

more draft choices in a draft that's

very topheavy I mean the Buffalo Bills

got two more picks in uh tonight's draft

on purpose for that and we'll discuss

the bills and what they did later on on

this program you could have done that

but he's also saying we want to win

later on but Michael pennick if you do

wait the four years if you do say wait

four years that guy's going to be a

28-year-old quarterback who's not played

before with the possibility of you

picking up the fifth year option of him

not having played a single snap now then

in terms of making sure that you're

winning down the road um the uh famous

website and firm spot track that keeps

uh track of all the finances just

looking at it right now well they

tweeted this out and I want to put it on

the screen so everyone can understand

what the Falcons are thinking that penx

is going to make 16 million over the

next two seasons with it with his

slotted contract as he ramps up and

learns behind cousins who's going to

earn $90 million over that span so

that's a $100 million 106 million bucks

at the quarterback spot which is you

know 50 million a year that's like Dak

right that's that's like momes money but

after that they've got Michael penck on

a 2year $6.8 million guarantee through

2027 with the fifth year option to boot

now that is dirt cheap and that however

is going to be the window in which you

want to try and win a Super Bowl that

they have left which is the rookie

contract you want to win in a rookie

contract right now that's why that makes

no sense to wait the two years and bring

him in to learn behind Kirk Cousins the

only thing that this could possibly

remotely compared to that I have seen in

the 21 years was back in the last time

the 21 years of doing the draft back in

the last time the the Washington

franchise chose a quarterback second

overall in 2012 just like last night

they chose second overall and they chose

a Heisman Trophy winning quarterback and

Robert Griffin the third and then a

couple of draft choices tra draft rounds

later they chose Kirk Cousins and I

remember sitting at the NFL Network

draft setting Radio City Music call

saying why do that the only time Kirk

Cousins is going to play as if something

has gone horribly wrong with your eggs

in the basket decision all eggs in the

basket decision with the time at the

time is to use the second overall pick

on a

quarterback this version of it is to

generationally enrich a quarterback

further why would you go ahead and

choose another quarterback when you've

just chosen one and it's amazing to me

that the situation now involves Kirk

Cousins in the role of being the one

supplanted and it's Michael penck Jr

being the one brought in to make the

quarterback Wonder are all the eggs in

my basket or not time is a flat circle

it's unbelievable and that is the point

to just finish up on the L you know

going through the entire head scratcher

here is what does kurk cousins think

because you do have to win now with the

guy you're paying him like you want to

win now you've got to get it at least

two years out of him in wi now mode what

is he thinking well last

night the Falcons called him just as

they were making this choice to give him

a heads up and both font no and Raheem

morrris were asked about

that questions for Terry or U Raheem

whichever one of you called Kirk when

you were on the clock and you tell me

about it what's his reaction well that's

a private we wouldn't share that you

know and obviously we reactions are

pretty private right yeah you know he

got called on the clock obviously

because of the sensitive time with the

issues of what you got going on it's

never a right time to talk to a

quarterback about those things and

reactions are always going to be private

when it comes to those things unless

Kurt decides to tell you some of those

things that whatever the case may be but

he's a competitor um just like us all

and uh you can always expect those

things to go just like you kind of

think really thinking it didn't go well

it didn't go well cuz that's why they're

not sharing it they'll always

reactions when they're positive will

always be shared publicly as you know so

um here

again calling him with mere seconds left

on the clock or just two minutes left on

the clock hey this is what we're doing

is kind of like when um you're paying

for the bill at dinner and somebody else

makes the reach for their wallet just as

you put your credit card down okay let

me let me I was really going to get this

I'm making the move I'm making the you

know I'm making

it's not reaching for the check it's

reaching for the wallet

like nice try I appreciate you I

appreciate you acknowledging but what

does it do me you know you're not

putting your credit card down in time so

again I just to sum up biggest head

scratcher I've seen in 21 years of doing

this draft does it mean the Falcons

can't win the Super Bowl in the next two

years with Kirk Cousins absolutely not

does it mean that they won't uh that

they won't win the Super Bowl with

Michael penck Jr when he gets out there

absolutely not does this mean Michael

penck Jr doesn't deserve to be the

eighth overall pick in the NFL draft

absolutely not does it mean that he

deserve to be born into the NFL this

way he also might play he also might

play week one we don't know if K cousins

is ready to go also there have been 130

quarterbacks play games in the last

years but you also don't sign a

quarterback to the contract that they

did if you're questioning whether he's

going to play week one he's going to

play week one they expected the whole

conversation this entire six weeks was

like Kurt Cousins has arrived Atlanta's

on the map they are absolutely in the

mix to win their division if not the

conference and we'll see what they're

going to do to supplement them with the

eighth overall pick and they didn't and

all they did was just add a lot of

questions and a conversation like this

one to start this show which is a head

scratcher headline I'm scratching my

head catch the rich eyes and show every

single day on the Roku Channel 12 to 3

Eastern for free